The appointments of three applicants for Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner for the Manila Campus were approved by the Legislative Assembly (LA) during their session last March 21 at the USG Session Hall.
Out of five candidates, only three were approved by the LA. John Ababan and Troy Mirafuentes—who have both already been serving under the position—will be extending their terms after receiving the required approval of at least two-thirds of LA members. Likewise, joining them will be Pamela Malit, who is new to the role of commissioner.
On the other hand, two other applicants, Denrick Laborada and John Macatangay, did not gather enough votes from the representatives present.
An incomplete USG?
Presently, the University Student Government (USG) does not have a complete Judiciary branch and Commission on Audit (COA), as disclosed by Majority Floor Leader Neal Gonzales after their deliberation on the Comelec appointments. “Since not a lot of people know about this, [we want to be] transparent with the student body,” Gonzales uttered.
According to Article XVIII, Section 5 of the USG Constitution, the process of selecting the succeeding magistrates is through appointment by a group of outgoing members from the USG Executive Committee (EXECOM) and the Judiciary.
The USG has implemented this by requiring incoming magistrates to go through a training program and present themselves to the EXECOM before they can take their judiciary exams. With the last set of magistrates, however, Gonzales said that there was a “lapse in the procedure” and “lack of proper turnover.”
The LA minority and majority floor leaders have met with USG’s Office of the President to discuss their plans on fixing the Judiciary and COA. Upon their deliberation, Gonzales assured that together with the LA representatives, a discussion on the amendment of the supplementary guidelines will take place to address the issue. “The main goal is to fix the main branches [of the USG],” Gonzales added.
Automated elections
In the coming General Elections (GE), Comelec has expressed their interest in adopting an automated voting system. Mirafuentes, who proposed the shift, said that the automated system will eliminate human error, which had been a concern in previous USG elections.
To do this, Comelec plans to have laptops stationed in polling booths or reserve computer labs as designated voting areas. The use of an automated system, Mirafuentes argued, would expedite voting operations, as well as make the process more transparent and streamlined.
Further, he cited that there is an existing website capable of handling the automated voting and canvassing process. In order to implement the automated system properly, Comelec will need assistance from other USG offices and from the Information Technology Services Office.
The Office of the Student Leadership Involvement, Formation, and Empowerment and the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs have also given their full support for the proposed system, Mirafuentes added.
Ababan, however, explained that the Comelec is still in the process of deciding whether or not to implement the automated system. He narrated, “There are still some things that needs to be fixed. If we [pursue] manual elections, [Comelec] is fully prepared [because it has been used] during previous elections.”
Ababan clarified that there will be publicity materials and voters education seminars to enlighten students about the new process before the commencement of election season.
Low turnout concerns
With Comelec data showing that the final turnouts for the previous GE and Special Elections (SE) were only around 52.70 percent and 51.30 percent, respectively, voter participation was also a concern raised by the LA.
Malit explained to the representatives that the minimum turnout—which is set by the Election Code at 50 percent plus one for every batch, every college, and the entire university—keeps the results more credible in terms of representation.
“In a way, the USG represents the student body, so if the student body [doesn’t] reach the 50 percent plus 1 [minimum turnout], it’s as if there is no representative,” she elaborated.
To address this, Malit mentioned her plans to sustain the Comelec’s efforts in encouraging students to vote, which include the commission’s current practices of creating publicity materials and organizing meetings. She also shared her intentions of having room to room campaigns to advocate for voter participation.
FAST2018 Representative Krisvin Briones added to Malit’s input by suggesting that the commission should inform students of the job descriptions of the offices, recounting that he has met people who were unaware of the roles of certain officers. He further asserted that voters ought to know what they are voting for and what their vote entails.
Miscommunication and misinterpretation
Comelec is expecting a large influx of voters in the upcoming GE since ID 118 students will also compose the population. With this in mind, Malit assured the floor that the commission will try to gather more associates and volunteers next term since lack of manpower was cited as one of the challenges Comelec faced in previous elections.
Because of the limited personnel, there were instances where no Comelec officers or volunteers were available to manage voting areas during certain hours.
Ababan also highlighted that during the last SE, the voting booth positioned in the Marian Quadrangle was not utilized due to bad weather circumstances. He revealed that reservations of usual venues such as the Henry Sy Sr. Hall were not made because of “miscommunications” on the exact date of the election period.
In response, Ababan stated that reserving venues one term ahead of the voting season will address these logistical problems, further adding that they will be developing contingency plans for unanticipated factors such as bad weather.
He also testified to the LA that there was “a bit of a rush” in scheduling the previous SE. “We [were] under the impression before that the [SE] would be like how the General Elections [were done], where there is no required date [for] the implementation of the election period, and then at the last minute, we found out that for Special Elections, the election period has to start on the fourth week of the term,” he revealed to legislators.
Comelec Chair Andrea Leon and Ababan later clarified to The LaSallian that the poll body was actually aware of the provision on the SE schedule, but the problem lied in interpreting the schedule requirement. “For us, hindi namin siya masyadong inintindi or naintindihan. The way of interpreting it, on our side, was different from the way it was interpreted talaga mismo sa [USG] Constitution,” Leon noted.
(For us, we didn’t understand it that much. The way of interpreting it, on our side, was different from the way it was actually interpreted in the [USG] Constitution.)
Nonetheless, the correct interpretation, she added, was given to them by former Comelec officers.
