Should the SSC allocate funds for projects concerning university facilities when it should be the concern and responsibility of the university administration?
MSUans raised concerns about the Supreme Student Council’s (SSC) funding of two facility-related projects during the 2nd General Assembly (GA) of the SSC of the Mindanao State University - General Santos (MSU-GenSan) for the academic year 2023 - 2024 at the university gymnasium, January 24.
These physical projects were the revamp of the SSC office during the first semester which amounted to Php 101, 246 and Project Tugon para sa Kaugmaon, a project with a proposed budget of Php 78, 600 that will equip classrooms of the seven colleges in the campus with orbit fans with the aim of addressing the need for improved ventilation of the classrooms—a problem identified through a survey conducted by the SSC from October 28 to November 30, 2023.
Ramzel Delloro, a student from the College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH) posited that it should not be the students’ burden to financially support such projects as the national government has allocated funds to the university, it being a state university, and imposed to the SSC the “danger” of “normalizing” such practice.
“We should not normalize such practices ‘cause it would send a message to our [university] administration na okay na pala, may initiatives na pala ‘yung mga [student] councils or pwede nalang natin hindi i-prioritize ang pag improve ng mga facilities. I see a very dangerous slippery slope and a bad precedent to normalize this kind of project,” Delloro stated.
With regard to the revamp of the SSC office, Delloro expressed if the SSC could find other sources of fund such as the Student Development Fund (SDF) to finance the project after the SSC president, Hon. Gellie Rose Davalos, confirmed that the fund for the revamp was from the SSC fee and not from other sources.
"Maybe we could outsource some funds so that ‘yung funds na naka allocate, just as big as 101,000 could be reallocated to other projects that really benefit the students firsthand and not take projects that are realistically, the admin's responsibility,” Delloro explained.
On the other hand, with regards to the installation of fans on the classrooms of the seven colleges, Hon. Davalos pointed out that the reason why the SSC agreed to materialize this project instead of lobbying it to the university administration—which is the objective of the survey that they conducted, is because of the long process it would take to lobby the concerns to the university administration.
“I believe na mahaba kasi ito na proseso kaya the council together with the ex-officio, agreed na mag bigay ang council muna together with the ex officio to install the fans. Isa sa mga naiisip ko ‘yung sa [drinking] fountain. Matagal na proseso, isang academic year ang dumaan pero under request parin siya. Naibalik siya last meeting sabi nila on process pa raw,” Hon. Davalos stated.
Furthermore, Hon. Arnel Dunggon, the main proponent of the project, assured that the council will exhaust ways to find sponsors to fund the project, acknowledging that it is not the SSC’s responsibility to address the problem.
“We assure you na in the next weeks to come, mangita jud ug way ang council to find sponsors so that dili namo gamiton ang funds for this problem kay I agree na this is not our responsibilities.” Hon. Dunggon said.
Student Development Fund (SDF)
Hon. Kenneth Yecyec, the President of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities Students’ Organization (CSSHSO) furthered the discussion about the SDF and the possibility of it being used for such projects.
“Meron tayong Student Development Fund where in fact pwede tayong mag-request para sa mga proyektong direktang nakakatulong sa mga mag-aaral, tulad ng pagre-representa sa kolehiyo or sa university o iba pang proyektong makakatulong sa mga estudyante. In the past semesters din kasi sa SSC fund lang tayo kumukuha para gamitin sa mga physical projects, gusto ko sanang magsimula ang SSC sa pag-request para maging modelo sa ibang colleges to suffice the other needs ng ating mga estudyante.” Hon. Yecyec inquired.
In response, Hon. Davalos said that the SSC will work on asking for the SDF for both the projects of the SSC and the college student councils.
“I attended the meeting together with the administration and I opened up where’s the fund of the student development fund and they said na the SDF was not solely for the travels, trainings, of the students but is also for the renovation ng mga offices, kasi its for the students. But, yeah, for this semester, we will be asking for the SDF together with your colleges and the SSC.” Hon. Davalos said.
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