Memories of DLSU General Elections

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a campaign material for any political party for GE 2008. I have tried my best to be objective, and merely presented a chronology of electoral events during my past years in DLSU. If you think that this is a campaign material for any political party, or if you see this being used by anyone as campaign material, please email me at bernadette.razon@gmail.com so that I can delete this entry. Thank you.

My current status message at Yahoo! Messenger reads: "DLSU General Elections 2008: Who will be next?" If I wasn't holding a position in the DLSU-M Student Council right now, it'll probably read a campaign slogan from the party I ran under. I'd probably be campaigning along with them, whether as a barker or one of the campaign officers. Hence, my being a Student Council officer prohibits me from showing signs of partisanship during these elections, and this principle will hold in this blog entry as well.

This entry is meant to be a trip back to memory lane, mostly focusing on the Frosh Elections (FE) and General Elections (GE) I have experienced for the past 3 years I've been in college. Thus, I will not explicitly show my preference for a certain party. After all, objectivity is a virtue that we Student Council officers must possess most, if not all, of the time.

First year college - A Glimpse of DLSU Politics
Some months before FE 2005, the two political parties of DLSU-M, Santugon and Tapat, had their recruitment week. However, unlike most frosh who are caught up with the hype and ending up joining one or even both of the political parties, I wasn't one to go with the flow. The political parties, for me, marketed themselves by including freebies and discounts with the membership cards. It was as if their political ideologies came as an afterthought. During that time I made a firm resolve not to be a member of any of these parties.

July came, and then it was the campaign period. For the first time I was able to watch the candidates of Santugon and Tapat do their room-to-rooms (RTRs) and their person-to-person campaigns (PTPCs). There was an independent party as well, Independent for You (I4U), whose candidates and supporters were composed of students from BS-ICTM. It was really fun watching them campaign with all their memorized spiels, but unfortunately it made the whole process seem unnatural.

Through the campaigns, I learned that our batch was going to be represented by four people: two batch representatives (BRs), and two legislative assembly representatives (LA reps). I don't remember any of the political parties giving any sort of job descriptions for these positions. If ever they did, I have forgotten already.

Election time came, and all the winners from our batch came from Santugon. Now that's something that very rarely happens in Philippine politics. I was quite astounded, actually, since if I remember correctly I voted 2 people from each party.

March 2006 came, and campaign period for GE 2006 came. We were all introduced to a new set of candidates, as well as new positions: College Assembly President (CAP), Executive Secretary, Executive Treasurer, VP-Operations and Communications (VP-OPEC), VP-Activities, VP-Academics, and Student Council President. The last six positions are collectively known as the Executive Board (EB). There was no independent party or candidate this time, and we watched as the candidates of both parties slugged it out during the campaign, once again reciting their memorized spiels that supposedly contained plans for our college. At this time, we did not enjoy the RTRs as compared to those in the FE. I think it's because we were looking for a new style of presenting their platform, and not merely changing the contents of what they're saying.

Election time came, and it was the first time I somehow appreciated the orderliness of the election process. Candidates were really not allowed inside the perimeter of the voting area, and once you are finished voting, you can't be inside that perimeter as well. I saw how the candidates were really convincing everyone to cast their vote. After all, each time someone votes, they fervently hope that it would be a vote for them. Our batch was swept again by Santugon as in the FE, and the CCS CAP was from Santugon as well. The EB positions, however, were all taken by Tapat, apparently a repeat of what happened the previous year and the year before that.

Second year college - Active Involvement
I wasn't too concerned about FE 2006, though I did hear that CCS was also swept by Santugon's candidates. During this time, I had absolutely no inkling that I would be asked to run for that academic year's GE.

It was around January of 2007, and Zyon Aquino, one of our BRs at that time asked me if I wanted to run for LA rep. I remember asking him a lot of questions: who considered me for the position, why me, etc., etc. I initially wanted to decline the offer, since I had plans of my own for the coming year, which included applying for officership in SPRINT and PTS, two of the organizations I was actively involved in. However, I also knew that to be chosen to run for a Student Council position is something that doesn't come everyday.

I actually felt flattered to be given the opportunity to run, but I told myself that if I can't become an officer in either SPRINT or PTS, I would decline the party's offer. Finally, I texted Zyon and asked him one final question before giving my answer: "If I win, will I still be able to become an officer in SPRINT and/or PTS?" (That's just the gist of what I asked.) Fortunately, he said that I could, since the organizations are not under CSO. With that, I formally accepted their offer.

After I was screened and accepted by Ge and Jess, the college president and college general of Santugon respectively, the trainings and practices began. I had to practice 5 different spiels, one for each day of the campaign week. It was fun, but I couldn't help feeling so uncomfortable since it's something I wouldn't normally do. However, I survived it and our slate came prepared for the campaign period.

Unfortunately, there were some mishaps during the campaign period, including forgotten lines, mistakes in eye contact, etc. I wasn't too concerned, though, because I don't think the students cared about that. I was even hesitant about doing the PTPCs, since it's something I don't normally do. But then, as I stated, I survived all that and just braced myself for what will happen after the election. After all, I didn't have anything to lose.

Elections came, and we were all nervous. I wasn't able to go to the meeting of Santugon since I had to finish a project for ADVANSE. Someone just texted the results to me, and to my big surprise, our slate was able to get all the positions in our batch! Unfortunately, Zyon, our candidate for CAP didn't win, as well as some candidates in the other batches. Worse, only 1 candidate for the EB won. It was a bit sad, but that's part of Lasallian politics.

Third year college - Watching Along the Sidelines
Since I am currently the incumbent LA rep of our batch, I cannot campaign for my political party in any of the elections. Thus, I can only take a passive role and just encourage people to vote and take part in the electoral process. I will not even mention the candidates for this year's elections, to somehow eliminate any trace of partisanship that can be seen.

Probably in next year's FE, I'll be a barker for Santugon. :)