There are two important events that will be happening in DLSU this week. First, since it’s the 10th week, DLSU-Manila tradition dictates that the Online Enrollment is going to be this week. This is evident because the students are already scrambling to arrange the subjects that they will be enrolling for next term.
The other one, is the Student Council general elections.
Student leaders have again emerged and are again campaigning to ask for the student body’s vote. They have come once again in each classroom that they can campaign to with their traditional, scripted but eloquently-said campaign platforms. Most of the things or keywords that you will hear from the candidates are student empowerment, change, leadership, student services, student welfare, and bla bla bla and other keywords. Such flowery speeches. Pero kapwa Lasalyano, tatanungin kita. Nararamdaman mo ba na nangyayari ang mga sinasabi nila sa kampanya nila pag sila ay nanalo at nakaupo na?
By the way, Last time I heard about the campaigns, the miting de avance was held last Friday, I think. I have no idea about what the hell happened to the miting de avance last week but I’ll dish my opinion about student politics in DLSU.
Although it’s one of the best student councils in the country (which is still debatable), it also sadly is a microcosm of the Philippine political system - especially during the time of elections. There are rampant smear campaigns. Both parties and their candidates are trying to their opposition apart in one way or another. They always have something negative to say about the other party, whether pinpointing the violations in the SC constitution or pinpointing actions that signify disservice to the SC. Look, I know that I am in no position to tell what is happening in their offices because I am not a member of the Student Council but they are so exposed during the campaign period in comparison to a regular day when they are already seated in the DLSU SC where they can go under the radar during their term.
They get to interact with student-voters, exposing their platforms, their personality and their values. Rumor-mongering and the traditional politics of siraan just won’t get it right. We are LaSallian achievers for God and Country and there is no freaking way that candidates should engage in such activities that destroy other candidates’ good reputation and credibility. It’s just unfair. They surely worked their asses so hard to be put in the posters and tarpaulins of their respective parties and it just ain’t right. But reality is, it’s just a page from the textbook of Philippine Politics.
It’s so sad that this is happening inside the university setting. The university setting should be the breeding ground for change in the society through young citizens and leaders and I find it unacceptable that this is happening. There have been also rumors of cheating in the elections, which really makes it doubly saddening.
I read one blog post from the DLSU SC Elections update blog and the level of bantering has reached the internet, with letters from candidates from both sides, expressing their displeasure about the other party. I really don’t know how to react with these letters that are being published in the Internet but it really does make me think about the deepening rift between Tapat and Santugon.
Something is visibly wrong. And it seems no one has bothered to figure how to make things and ideals co-exist.
Another observation is with both parties’ room to room campaigning method. It’s so flowery and so eloquently delivered. Although I hold nothing against the campaign style of the candidates from Tapat and Santugon, maybe it’s already time to strip off their campaign method and innovate something new and appealing to the students. No, I’m not asking them to sing and dance their campaign platform on the classrooms because that will be a total exercise of futility but I’m asking them to please verge away from the monotonous and scripted campaigning.
It was the same room to room campaigning style that I witnessed and heard in 2005. Three years forward, nothing has changed.
The parties should just make a campaign that will actually make the students listen to the SPOA rather than a speech wherein the students just wait for the first candidate to stutter and go wrong in the scripted campaign. But I guess I can do nothing to change that since it’s the most time-saving and effective mode of campaigning. One important thing that I got to ask though is for them to stop repeatedly mentioning the keywords ‘vote straight’ and ‘vote derecho’ because it does not do anything substantial to their specific plan of action.
It’s all right to append it at the last part of the campaign though, there’s nothing wrong with that, but the candidates should make us feel that we should vote for their platform and not to vote for them for compulsory reasons. I think that they should hold more question and answer campaigns so that they can directly answer the questions of the students and not to keep them hanging with their speeches.
Another observation is that the candidates, together with their party-mates always convene at the Yuchengco Lobby, just centimeters away from the masking-tape border set by the DLSU COMELEC from the official polling place. I know it’s really funny but they really are making sure that their votes count and that the other party does not try to cheat. That’s how intense the competition is. Men and women in blue/yellow and orange/black take turns in guarding the polling place, also waiting for the other side or the COMELEC to make a wrong move.
I just have a word for those who would win this year’s general elections. For the winning candidates, please, make us feel the change, student empowerment, reforms, and the student services that you promised during the campaign period. Don’t go under the radar once you get your position in the SC. Represent the De La Salle University student body. Please make yourselves to be felt by the student body. Yes, your good projects and visions matter, but the student body will truly appreciate your presence amongst them.
Please stop tearing each other apart and bring back our full trust in the DLSU Student Council. It’s about time that real change is brought to the DLSU Student Council.
After all, we deserve LaSallian-quality leadership, not politics.
