ALMOST a month after the grand Paskuhan concert, which faced criticism due to the early closure of campus gates, the UST Central Student Council apologized to the Thomasian community for its “late” posting of the announcement regarding the security measure.
In a thread on X (formerly Twitter) on Jan. 15, CSC President Ierathel Tabuno apologized to Thomasians “inconveniently affected by our late posting of announcement of gate closure during the Paskuhan Concert 2023.”
READ: UST closes gates early on Paskuhan Day
UST shut its entrances at 7 p.m. during the Grand Paskuhan Concert, leaving some Thomasians, including faculty members and alumni, waiting outside the entrance gates. The CSC released its announcement about the gate closure at 7:45 p.m. on the day of the concert, citing a directive from the Campus Safety and Security Office.
We regret to inform everyone of this announcement. Information was handed out to us spontaneously from the Security Office.
Although we coordinated & confirmed this with the right offices, the Central Student Council only amplifies the decisions made by the administration. https://t.co/z3pcyBrU54
— UST Central Student Council (@UST_CSC) December 21, 2023
Thomasians piled on the CSC for the late notice, but the council said it was only “amplif[ying] the decisions made by the administration” and that the “information was handed out to us spontaneously from the Security Office.”
(1/6) As student leaders, we cannot perpetuate a practice of pretending nothing went wrong or that we did not make mistakes by just letting time pass and hoping that students forget.
— uno (@ierawr) January 15, 2024
“Learning about the decision and implementation of closure of gates as it was already happening, before and continuing even after the post was made, the EB approached the higher offices to advocate for attendees who were caught blindsided,” Tabuno said on X.
“As this was not reflected properly in the announcement, we fully understand that this had caused frustration in everyone and we truly apologize for the poor choice of words that was used in it.”
The CSC president also apologized for what she said was an underwhelming Paskuhan.
“The EB does not wish for this to in any way lessen our responsibility in the matter. We still acknowledge and take full accountability on this. We also apologize and understand that this year’s Paskuhan failed to surpass, or even meet, the expectations of Thomasians,” she said.
“So as we continue onto the latter half of the academic year, this and other evaluations will remain on our shoulders and shall be a constant reminder to do better and only better going forward.”
A total of 39,638 Thomasians joined the 2023 Grand Paskuhan Concert. This was almost 12,500 short of 2022 Paskuhan’s 51,845 and less than half of 2019 Paskuhan’s 105,000.
