The University Student Government (USG) is a fusion of the colors blue and yellow, and black and orange, as officers from both parties Iisang Tugon sa Tawag ng Panahon (Santugon) and Alyansang Tapat sa Lasalista (Tapat) occupy the seats of the student governing body. With 60 officers from Santugon and 30 from Tapat, the former currently occupies majority of the seats in the student government.
With the majority-minority scenario settling in the USG, the issue of partisanship is underlined. According to Dictionary.com a partisan is “an adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, especially a person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance”. The practice of being a partisan is referred to as partisanship.
While the USG constituion itself has no clear definition of partisanship, it has provisions that implicitly discourage its practice in the body.
Section 10 of the USG constitution states that the student governing body shall possess “an independent stand, not dictated by any other sector, other than the students.”
Chief Magistrate Alexyss Alip explains that since parties are considered as a sector, it can be derived from the aforementioned provisions that partisanship is not encouraged in the USG. All elected officers then shall be politically neutral whatever party they were affiliated with prior to their incumbency.
The USG Code of Conduct also has a similar provision. Article 8 Section 1 of the Code reads, “all elected officers are prohibited from taking part in any party-related campaigning during election period while serving their term of office; so as to uphold the neutrality of the University Student Government.”
Party-related campaigning refers to room-to-room campaigning that supports candidates, wearing and displaying of party paraphernalia as well as wearing party colored tops, and electioneering or the strong show of support for a particular party or candidate.
Any officer who violates the said provision will be subject to deliberations by the Judiciary which could lead to impeachment.
Recently, a formal complaint against College of Liberal Arts President Yjuv Toquero was filed by Santugon President Mic Gutierrez, who alleged the former of electioneering during this year’s Freshman Election (FE). However, upon deliberation of the Judiciary, the case was dismissed.
One of the grounds for the complaint is Toquero’s alleged declaration of “Vote straight Tapat!” in the Br. Andrew Gonzalez Hall during the FE last month.
Clashing ideologies 
Another dimension of partisanship is the strict adherance or abidance to a party’s principles and ideologies, while disregarding those from other parties.
Given that all elected officers were political party members before they took office partisanship is an inevitable reality in the USG.
USG Executive Secretary Janine Noblezada claims that it is natural for officers to govern based on principles that are in line with the ideals of the party they came from, because of the trainings they undergo.
Although this aspect of partisanship is unavoidable, it remains to be an issue as some claim that it can significantly affect the performance of USG officers.
In a setting where there are two different parties, clashes of diverse personalities and opinions cannot be avoided. Gutierrez believes that this may “lead to certain conflicts in the office, and hence, less efficiency and collaborative efforts.”
Last year, this particular phenomenon was even more apparent. Because of Tapat’s failure to field any candidates for the 2010 General Elections (GE) and the disqualification of the whole party slate during the Freshmen Election of the same year, only one elected officer from the party held a seat in the USG. All of the other seats were taken by Santugon.
Mons Dumaual, the lone elected officer from Tapat last year, admits the difficulty she has encountered in the USG during her term. As the only Tapat officer in the body, she shares that there were instances when she alone voted for a resolution to be passed. USG President Cabe Aquino, who ran under Tapat also shares the same woes as the majority of officers this year come from Santugon.
Former USG President Lorenz de Castro, who ran under Santugon, admits that working with other USG officers last year was not that difficult. However, he discloses that at times, being partisan can lessen the credibility and transparency of the USG as a whole. He noted that last year, the intensity of criticisms made against the elected officers once they committed mistakes was greater because they knew that almost all officers came from only one party.
However, Jet Luga, Tapat’s Vice President for Internals, believes that partisanship can be benefitial for the USG and should be encouraged. “People who are against partisanship are clearly those who have the wrong connotation of what partisanship is. That shouldn’t be the case, and the more we downplay partisanship, the more people will continue to believe in this facade of lies that partisanship is bad and should be avoided” Luga explains.
Louie Montemar of the Political Science Department believes that the clash of ideas is essential in a student government as it ensures healthy democracy and promotes change. Alip adds that through it, check and balance in the USG is present.
