The University Student Government (USG) Legislative Assembly (LA) held another regular session last March 4 at the Emilio Yap Jr. Case Room to discuss the release of a manifesto on the improvement of the Philippines’ electoral processes and the approval of two recently appointed University Student Government (USG) Department on Activity Approval and Monitoring (DAAM) chairpersons.
Of electoral candidates and processes
The first agenda called for the release of a manifesto regarding the review of electoral qualifications in the Philippine government. Ahead of the discussion, the proponents deemed essential to lay the resolution on the table due to the need for more information in order to make the resolution more credible and solidified.
Prior to the 2016 National and Local Elections (NLE), cases such as a candidate’s eligibility and credibility still remain in question today. The manifesto aims to address these issues by reminding voters about the honesty and integrity of the candidates and encouraging the exercise of responsible voting this coming May.
The proponents state that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) could still improve on stricter implementations of rules and regulations regarding the electoral process in order to lessen the issues. It was argued by some LA representatives that these “implementations” should be specific because there are many laws pertaining to the electoral process.
After a lengthy discussion, the resolution was laid on the table, with 17 voting for and 0 against.
DAAM officers approved
The second agenda discussed was on the resolution for approval of Yedda Marie Diaz as the appointed officer of DAAM for the Office of the Vice President for Internal Affairs (OVPIA). Diaz was initially invited to apply as a student consultant for the Office of Student Leadership, Involvement, Formation, and Empowerment (SLIFE).
The DAAM oversees the operations of different organizations and USG units of the University, which also takes charge of the documentation of pre-activity and post-activity requirements.
On implementing an efficient system for DAAM, Diaz mentioned that DAAM is trying to develop a process flowchart to make the document processing procedure easier for first-timers. As the new chairperson, Diaz stated her aim to make sure that assemblies and batches strictly comply with the requirements.
The resolution to approve Diaz as DAAM chairperson was passed unanimously, with 17 voting for, 0 against, and 0 abstentions.
In a separate discussion, the resolution calling for the approval of John Gerald Dulay as the appointed officer of DAAM for the OVPIA was also deliberated. Like Diaz, Dulay was also a student consultant for SLIFE and was appointed by the OVPIA to be one of the chairpersons of DAAM.
In assuming his term as DAAM chairperson, Dulay hopes to integrate DAAM in the Activity Receiving and Tracking System (ARTS) of the Council of Student Organizations (CSO) and SLIFE wherein students can check the status of their documents. He hopes to create a “one-on-one” spreadsheet and address the problem of the system’s lack of uniformity.
With 18 voting for, 0 against, and 0 abstentions, the resolution to approve Dulay as DAAM chairperson was also passed.
The LA convened for a final time this term on March 11.
