DLSP colleges and universities collaborate to form SC federation

Presidents of student councils and governments from different Philippine Lasallian colleges and universities convened last September for the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to formalize the De La Salle Philippines (DLSP) Student Council Federation (SC-Fed).

According to the MOA, the SC-Fed stands as “The official student alliance of student councils and governments of all tertiary institutions under De La Salle Philippines.” Its purpose is to provide a venue for communication and collaboration between different Lasallian tertiary institutions. Furthermore, it intends to “[engage] young Lasallians towards nation building and the fulfillment of [the] Lasallian Mission.”

The federation aims to achieve the said mission with its four thrusts, namely, environment, education, good governance, as well as Lasallian youth formation and involvement.

Keane Palatino, executive director of DLSP’s Lasallian Mission Services, further elaborates on the endeavors of the federation. “Our goal is to rally more people in the Lasallian mission,” he posits. “We believe so much that even the students, young as they are, are called already to be partners in this education mission in a variety of ways.”

The idea of the SC-Fed, according to Palatino, stemmed from an initiative of current DLSU University Student Government (USG) President Carlo Inocencio as the fulfillment of his goal in associating the USG with different student councils and governments from other Lasallian tertiary institutions.

When asked of the benefits DLSU students can avail from the federation, Inocencio answers that it would be easier for Lasallian colleges and universities to share their resources such as mastery at certain fields or expertise in certain programs as well as collaborate with each other.

“It would be a great opportunity for our students in the University to actually experience the Lasallian network,” Inocencio concedes. He adds that SC-Fed can lead to the creation of a lot of programs that students can join and be active in. “For example, it was agreed [upon] that [in] formation programs, students can join as participants, or if they have mastered certain values already, they can be the ones to help other Lasallian students in different parts of the country,” he states.

Inocencio also stresses the value of recognizing the bigger Lasallian community beyond DLSU. He elaborates, “It’s a very important thing for our students to experience such involvement and to have great awareness.

“The network can really help our University and the entire Lasallian community,” Inocencio ends.