A Legislative Assembly (LA) special session was held last March 16 to discuss the pending suspension of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, the problems that have occurred thus far in this year’s University Student Government (USG) General Elections (GE), and plans for the proposed special elections.
Suspension of ROTC
It was clarified that no final announcement had been made as to whether the entire ROTC program of De La Salle University will be suspended.
ROTC representatives were unable to attend the session to discuss the matter further. As such, details were instead given by FAST2012 LA Representative Bianca Soriano on their behalf.
As of late, members of the ROTC have started circulating a petition online and on campus to prevent the suspension and possible disbanding of the program. However, they have also reached out to the USG for assistance to get more signatures and draft a manifesto regarding the issue.
They also shared some justifications as to why the suspension is unnecessary, citing that the officers responsible for the alleged hazing have already been sanctioned and the concerned unit, Cadet Officer Candidate Course (COCC), has since been removed.
They also believe that the university and the community as a whole will be at a loss since ROTC has won numerous awards and the program has provided crucial social welfare activities.
On the question of a possible program to replace the ROTC during its suspension, Soriano stated, “USG will be helping with the transition in terms of finding other avenues for them to exercise different activities that they do in the program.”
The legislative body concluded that the USG will continue communicating with the administration and with the ROTC members regarding the issue.
Problems during elections
The body then discussed the various problems that occurred during the ongoing USG GE. Among the problems listed were the lack of administrative appeal body, difficulty in the implementation of guidelines, and questionable provisions in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
To address the lack of an administrative appeal body, a hierarchy was proposed with the Electoral Board on top, followed by the Judiciary, then lastly the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). This is designed to act as a court of appeals, specifically for electoral disputes.
For difficulty in implementation guidelines and difficulty in administrative oversight, they identified that one main issue was that lack of a governing body when there are electoral disputes. COMELEC was unwilling to exercise complete discretion over the disqualification of some candidates, and the parties were instead asked to come to a consensus over the decision despite no one being open to compromise.
The LA proposed to add a clause in the COMELEC code to declare the ability of COMELEC to exercise full discretion over electoral disputes and administrative power over elections. They also entertained the idea of adding specific provisions in the election code for incomplete filing of COCs so that penalties will not be left to the interpretation of COMELEC. However, some raised the concern that the inability to fulfill the MOA, a binding contract signed by all parties, should immediately result in disqualification. After some discussion, they agreed that the MOA should first be reviewed by the judiciary in the future.
Special Elections
Two main results of the current general elections were considered by the body: either all current candidates win or no one wins. In either situation, a special elections will be held to fill the empty slots. As of now, the College of Computer Studies will experience automatic failure since there are no candidates running for any position within the college.
The Election Code states that a special election should be held in the following trimester. However, due to administration constraints, a possible bad voter turnout for next year, and no government planning, the body deemed it best to hold special elections as soon as the current GE ends.
Following a similar situation last year, the position of LA representative for FAST2011 was left vacant after the USG GE. Instead of waiting until the following academic year, special elections were held a few weeks after.
The body proposed the following dates for the special elections: March 30 to April 1 for filing of candidacy, April 6 to 8 for campaign period, April 10 for Miting De Avance, April 13-15 for voting, and April 16 for counting of votes. Filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COC) were to be done as soon as March 23, Monday.
If the voter turnout is less than 50%+1 of the entire student body, this would result in a failure of elections. The candidates in the GE will be given the option to run again during the special elections, provided that they had not reached the required number of votes, or failed to garner the votes in their favor.
Further discussions on this will continue in the upcoming LA session on Friday, March 20.
14 replies on “Legislative Assembly discusses ROTC suspension, USG GE issues”
BS. LA meeting about QUESTIONABLE provisions in the memorandum? Bakit, sino sino ba ang naguusap diyan? Diba from political parties din?
Although they are FROM political parties, once inside the USG, they become neutral parties without any biases.
And it’s sort of amazing how you can’t digest 3 short paragraphs.
@ Salvador J, You actually believe they become neutral? Come on dude, kahit anong mangyari, in every decision made, there will always be a consideration of these people’s interests.
Sino ka ba dyan sa picture? Haha…
At least may pinapatunguhan ang LA sa mga issue. Hindi yung nangyari siya tapos walang preventive measure sa future.
“I’m elected na, I’ll forget my party, I’ll serve the students’ interests!”
Said no politician ever.
This is the most naive comment ever. Sa bundok ka ba nakatira brad?
That’s BS! Kami ngang Alumni may pakialam pa, how much more those who are elected? They’ll do everything in their power to turn the tides in their favor.
INHIBITION for those who were part of this year’s GE! They will be biased no matter how you put it; not thinking negatively but you have to let the emotions of the previous GE simmer down and let reason decide. They are paralyzing COMELEC so they can push for their own interests.
Rules are and should be rules. Real leaders should know and acknowledge the power of the law, and follow it; not circumvent it so that they can be accommodated.
For your reference:
Hindi naginhibit si Buensalido?
and why is Kahn still presiding?
Bianca Soriano will be presiding for all electoral discussions.
That is good to know. Thank you for your response.
The LA doesn’t have any right to do the appeal body. The USG constitution puts the COMELEC under the Judiciary Branch. It means that the Judiciary has the final say when it comes to decisions regarding the COMELEC and its functions.The Judiciary is composed of non partisan students, which make them the most qualified in handling cases that usually involves political parties.If the LA will pass a resolution putting the EB above the Judiciary, then what is the point of having checks and balances. The EB and the LA will be violating the right of seperation of powers which is a basic principle in the USG government. The only way to do this is thru ratification of the Constitution and removing the constitutionally approve heirarchy of the Judiciary otherwise, this may be used as a ground for impeachment for violating the Constitution.