Upon the closing of the Supreme Student Council-Commission on Elections (SSC-COMELEC)’s filing of the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) of aspiring student leaders of Mindanao State University (MSU)-Gensan, only one student party, the Alliance of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP), submitted their requirements for this year’s election, at the SSC office on April 19.
This is the consecutive second year that the ASAP party filed its lone candidacy without any opposition parties or independent running candidates.
The most recent instance of two opposing parties vying for student leadership occurred during the academic year 2021-2022, wherein the ASAP Party and the Catalyst of Change (COC) Party faced off in the student elections.
RUNNING CANDIDATES
After a thorough deliberation of the COMELEC, the official lists of the qualified executive candidates from the party are: Leonard Tucjayao from BA Political Science as president, Larence Villaron of Bachelor of Elementary Education as the vice-president, Melden Dave Casing from BA in Literary and Cultural Studies as the secretary-general, Ali Saivani from BS in Accountancy as the treasurer.
The party’s running senators are: Ramzel Ivan Delloro and Elaine Mae Borja from BA in Political Science, Alken Rober Daquio from BS in Agribusiness Management, Angela Torbolento from BS in Biology, Arnel Dunggon and Emmaculate Gianan from BS in Mechanical Engineering, Mark Januto from BS in Aquaculture, Almariz Hassan from BS in Economics, Prince Suhayon from BS in Civil Engineering, and John Myle Sabdula from BSEd English.
ONE-PARTY SENTIMENTS
In an interview, Rubal Joules Patron, the SSC-COMELEC, noted that a one-party election might question the legitimacy of the elections.
“The fact that there is only one party (ASAP) running for leadership for the next school year might make some students question the legitimacy of these candidates. This election might even be labeled as merely ‘ceremonial’,” Patron said.
The SSC-COMELEC still maintains optimism regarding the leadership potential of the sole party.
“Just the fact that they are willing, and hopefully ready, to take on the challenges of being the next generation leaders and take one step forward for the sake of the studentry is enough to prove that they have the guts to do it when others are unwilling to do so,” Patron said.
ELECTION PROTOCOL
Currently, the ratified election code of COMELEC lacks any provisions addressing the procedures for managing one-party elections.
Despite the absence of specific provisions, COMELEC intends to proceed with its standard protocols for campaigning, holding miting de avance, and conducting regular elections, mirroring the procedures followed in previous years.
Rubal assured that they would exert their “their best effort” to ensure the success of the one-party elections.
“I just hope that this "guts" of them [candidates] is backed by competence in the future. We are as anxious as everyone as we watch the future events unfold,” Rubal stated.
The campaign period starts on April 22–26, miting de avance on April 24, and Election Day and canvassing of votes on April 29–30.
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