Reaffirming a Commitment (final draft)
(CMC Student Council Statement in support of the Defend the OSR Campaign)
We at the College of Mass Communication (CMC) Student Council express to strengthen our commitment to the system-wide campaign for the Student Regent Referendum in January 19-23 in the light of joining a comprehensive alliance led and guided by the Katipunan ng Sanggunihang Mag-aaral sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (KASAMA sa UP), the only standing body of student councils from all units within the university.
Further, as a result of the events that transpired during the General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC) on Dec. 19, we vow to ensure the success of the referendum, despite time constraints and efforts from any vested interests to mar the campaign with political clutter.
Traditionally, student councils from different units in the university meet twice in a general assembly: first, to discuss any proposed amendment to the Codified Rules for student Regent Selection (CRSRS) and debate whether to include them or not; and second, to select the next student regent. However, it was clarified at the beginning of this year's GASC that the assembly was convened for a special purpose, since peculiar to the previous years, no student council submitted any proposal prior to deadline set by the standing CRSRS (October 1).
Even then, the six student councils (out of the 45 present) that went there with proposed amendments were allowed to present their proposals, and were accepted as recommendations upon the prerogative of the presiding officer, herself the Student Regent.
Since the councils with proposed amendments themselves acknowledge the tradition of expressing any intention to include amendments prior to October 1, it is quite unfair to put the blame on anyone without doing their part. Upon knowing that passing the amendments before October 1 takes precedence for convening a regular GASC, colleges with such proposals could have abide so, and it could have spared the student councils from unnecessary debate during the GASC.
The time expended for such debate could have been used for any discussion on how councils will rise to the challenge of uniting the 50 thousand students to vote for safeguarding the Office of the Student Regent. After all, all the other councils went to the GASC for ensuring a successful referendum campaign.
Also, these colleges with amendments were asked to show the body the quantitative and qualitative data of the consultations they said to have made. As transparency was requested, they refused to show any data. A representative of the Law Student Government even admitted they did not hold consultations with the students of the said college, citing constraints in schedule. We ask: if these amendments did not come from a consensus from the students, how can democracy be ensured, then?
We concede that democracy is not a sponge that absorbs just everything. And so the decisions we have made and the programs we have spearheaded have all come from the majority of the students, particularly their clamor and the material conditions from which they are in. The most recent, if not the best example of this is when we presented the amended college constitution in the College Assembly held last Nov. 17. Almost 3/4 of the students who attended voted yes for the removal of a standing item in the college charter that imposed good academic standing for students who wish to run for the council election, and was thus rescinded.
We swore under an oath to echo the interests of the students, but we could not do this alone. With this, we saw the importance of the Office of the Student Regent, a product of the student's commitment to the cause of ensuring that the administration recognize our rights as students. Dialogues that resulted to rescinding of provisions, such as Article 456 in the UP Code that denied recognition to religious and provincial organizations and to a review of the currently imposed laboratory fees were made possible with the efforts of the OSR. A policy review that exposed a denial of democratic access of education through tuition increase, as shown in low enrollment and show-up rates, as well as the inefficiencies of the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) were done through the OSR's initiative. And KASAMA sa UP, the only system-wide alliance of student councils, has continued to exist as a manifestation of the OSR's commitment to bridge all UP units and give equal footing to the concerns of each UP unit.
Now that the administration imposed on us a referendum-something that was not consulted to nor clamored by the students-it is now our turn to defend the OSR, an institution that has never failed to stand for and by the students. We are committing our yes votes, and are calling as many students to do the same thing.
We thank the students who have initially support in the campaign. Having in mind that we came to the GASC to represent them, we went there resolved not to allow any amendment that does not at best represent their voices, much so anything that did not come from them. Not doing so is just disrespectful and inconsiderate of the students of our college and all the other colleges which saw nothing wrong of the standing CRSRS, a 10-year document that contained the wisdom of all previous student councils and has efficiently guided the selection of the previous Student Regents, and thus recommended no change.
As the biggest stakeholders of the university, students deserve representation before the highest policy-making body, the Board of Regents. If we let this slip away, chances are organizations can never have the tambayans back, and students lose any chance to avert any move to impose higher tuition and other fees while as the administration resorts to more projects such as a block of call center infrastructures disguised as a technopark. Thus, we find no reason to lose grip over the fight to maintain an institution, created by the students who lobbied and fought for this much-deserved representation before the Board of Regents.
We are then working for a more comprehensive campaign for the five-day referendum, and to ensure the maximum number of yes votes from the college. Doing otherwise is a disservice to the students whose democratic interests have been fought for by the Office of the Student Regent. This is not the time for any divisive tactic, nor any show of bitterness. The time is for us to rise for our rights and defend them. And as a council for the students, that is the right thing to do, and thus what we will be doing, come resumption of classes and onward.
VOTE YES TO DEFEND THE OFFICE OF THE STUDENT REGENT
VOTE YES ON THE UP SYSTEM-WIDE REFERENDUM ON JANUARY 26-31, 2009
JOIN: THE CMC ad hoc Committee on the SR Referendum