UST FACULTY members will vote for new union leaders on Feb. 15 to 17 with 45 candidates vying for 18 positions.
The candidates for president are Asst. Prof. Revenendo Vargas of the Institute of Religion and Prof. Jove Jim Aguas and Asst. Prof. Emerito Gonzales from the Faculty of Arts and Letters’ Department of Philosophy.
The winner will replace Dr. George Lim, who has been USTFU president since 2011.
Running under Vargas’ Kabalikat Party are: Claudine Say for internal vice president, George Chao for external vice president, Leny Gadiana for vice president for labor education and development, reelectionist vice president for legal affairs Aurora Cristina Bermudez, and Pocholo Mari Arabit for vice president for grievances and complaints.
Running under Aguas’ Lingkod-Guro Party are: incumbent executive vice president Patrick Ellis Go, Roberto Ampil for internal vice president, Analiza Yanga for external vice president, Nestor Noble for vice president for labor education and development, and James Platon for vice president for grievances and complaints. Platon is the incumbent vice president for labor education and development.
Running under Gonzales’ Sulong USTFU are: incumbent internal vice president Edilberto Gonzaga for executive vice president, Rebecca Adri for internal vice president, Jonathan Geronimo for external vice president and Noel Asiones for vice president for legal affairs.
Candidates for secretary general are Elizabeth Kapulong (Kabalikat) and Luciana Urquiola (Lingkod Guro).
Incumbent Joyce Tan (Kabalikat) and Elenita Mendoza (Lingkod Guro) are the candidates for treasurer.
Maria Luisa Reyes (Kabalikat), Fernando Talion (Lingkod Guro) and Leonid Lintag (Sulong USTFU) are vying for auditorship.
Public relations officer bets are James Mark Nidea (Kabalikat), Emelito Sarmago (Lingkod Guro) and Katherine Kyra Alonday (Sulong USTFU).
Jonathan Cabero, Alvin Tan and Robert Montaña are the candidates for sergeant at arms of Kabalikat, Lingkod Guro and Sulong USTFU, respectively.
Running for the board of directors under Vargas are Stephen Querico Buñi, Raymond Clarin, Kristi Ma. Fevie Macasaet, Raul Ortega, Crisencio Paner and Dominador Ulaye.
Candidates for the board under Aguas are Myrna de Vera, Jan Erven Ganacias, Mary Grace Hernandez, Ronald Paguta, Joseph Benedict Prim and Marvin Zapanta.
Maria Victoria Bongar, Elvis Llarena and Ulysses Parado are vying for directorship under Gonzales.
The elections will be held online. Winners will serve five-year terms.
The next set of union officers will take charge of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) covering 2021-2026. A CBA is a contract between an employer and a labor union that lays down the terms and conditions of employment, such as pay, working hours and benefits.
Faculty CBA talks have often been delayed. The 2011-2016 CBA was ratified by the faculty only in 2014, after a deadlock was broken through backchannel talks.
In September 2020, more than 1,200 faculty members voted “yes” to ratify the long-delayed 2016-2021 CBA.
The new CBA gave uniform salary rate hikes for faculty members regardless of rank. The salary increase per unit was P64.29 for Academic Year (AY) 2017-2018 and P59.82 for AY 2018-2019.
Three candidates in next month’s elections were negotiators removed by the USTFU from the CBA talks last year for publicizing their appeal to immediately distribute tuition increases from previous years: Edilberto Gonzaga, Emerito Gonzales and Rebecca Adri.
Last Sept. 4, the sacked negotiators filed a complaint before the Department of Labor and Employment against the USTFU board, claiming their removal from the panel was illegal and that the new CBA was invalid because the replacement negotiators were not elected by the general membership.
