THE OUTGOING public relations officer (PRO) of the Central Student Council (CSC) has been elected vice president, making her the highest-ranking student official in UST with the absence of an elected president.
Legal management sophomore Annie Agon secured the vice presidency with 18,367 votes, the most of any elected candidate this year, while 7,279 students left their ballots unanswered for the position.
READ: VP bet sets sights on Herculean task of passing UST’s Magna Carta for Students | The Varsitarian
Three other student leaders were proclaimed winners of the Executive Board positions during the Proklamasyon held on April 12 at the Tan Yan Kee Student Center.
Biochemistry junior Nashville Mauricio was proclaimed CSC secretary after garnering 16,823 votes. A total of 8,823 students left their votes unanswered.
With a mandate of 16,357 votes, political science junior Joseph Coronel rose to the position of CSC auditor. Non-votes for the position totaled 9,289.
Another political science junior, Heavenly Nerizon, won the PRO position with 9,327 votes, ahead of Nathan Blaza’s 7,918 votes. A total of 8,401 students left their ballots unanswered for the position.
In an interview with the Varsitarian, Central Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Franz Soriano said a special election will be held next year to fill the vacant president and treasurer posts.
“Under the USEC (UST Students’ Election Code), we will proceed with a special election in the following academic term for the vacant positions,” Soriano told the Varsitarian.
In the meantime, the CSC Executive Board will have to determine who will temporarily assume the duties of the president.
“It will depend on the discussion of the Executive Board on who will be appointed as the officer-in-charge of the president position. But as we have observed in the previous term, the highest available position would proceed to the acting president,” he said.
Central Board
During Proklamasyon, the winners of the local student council elections were also proclaimed.
The Central Board is composed of the following elected presidents of college-based councils:
- Sheilla Nazario (UST-AMV College of Accountancy)
- Lyra Balita (College of Architecture)
- James Espino (College of Commerce and Business Administration)
- Tyron Seculan (College of Education)
- Abijah Lumaque (College of Fine Arts and Design)
- Jyro Nidea (College of Information and Computing Sciences)
- Kyle Labay (College of Nursing)
- Hyacinth Birung (College of Rehabilitation Sciences)
- Hartnell Madarang (Faculty of Philosophy)
- John Rabena (Faculty of Sacred Theology)
- Angela Palaya (Faculty of Arts and Letters)
- Angelique Cabanlong (Faculty of Civil Law)
- Yumiko Paderes (Faculty of Engineering)
- Miguel Golingay III (Faculty of Medicine and Surgery)
- Merielle Pineda (Faculty of Pharmacy)
- Charlize Deocadiz (Junior High School)
- Misha Lao (Senior High School)
Voter turnout for this year’s election rose to 61.00%, with 25,646 Thomasians casting their votes.
This was an improvement from the 47.04% turnout recorded in the 2024 elections when only 20,199 out of 42,941 Thomasians participated in the polls — the lowest voter turnout in 18 years.
The Central Comelec held the elections from April 7 to 12.
