A total of 29 candidates for the 2017 University Student Elections were declared unqualified on March 27 as they were not included in the SENTRO La Salle, Sinag political party, and RED Alliance’s official List of Members, as confirmed by Student Commission on Election (SCE) Commissioner Yna Patricia Tan.
Following Article V Section 6(a)(ii), of the DLSU-D 2016 Amended Student Election Code (E-Code), the SCE did not proclaim candidates who were not included in the official List of Members of political parties.
The provision states that “only the registered members of a political party are allowed to run under that party. Hence, the political parties are obliged to submit an updated List of Members on the last day of COC (Certificate of Candidacy) giving.”
As for the SENTRO La Salle, Secretary on Internal Affairs Gerard Nicole Narvaez said that the SCE did not mention Article V Section 6 of the E-Code when the SCE released their memorandum on the Certificate of Candidacy Giving, Filing of Candidacy, and Campaign Period and that their candidates are still qualified as they have met all the requirements needed by the SCE.
However, Tan explained that all political parties should have already read and understood the content of the E-Code and must not rely only on the memorandum released by the SCE.
Meanwhile, Sinag Secretary General Lester Peñarubia said, “Not that they (SINAG’s unqualified candidate/s) were unqualified, everyone is qualified to run for a position in the council, but it just so happens that they (SINAG’s unqualified candidate/s) confirmed their candidacy after the submission of the List of Members. It is stipulated in the E-Code that at every end of the COC giving, the political parties must submit their List of Members.”
On the other hand, RED Alliance has not yet given their statement regarding their unqualified candidates.
On March 29, SENTRO La Salle submitted their motion to repeal the proclaimed candidates. However, the SCE dismissed their motion on the same day.
Tan added, “Lahat naman sila (unqualified candidates) [ay] nagpasa on time at complete ‘yong mga requirement no‘ng nag-file sila ng COC pero nagsa-stand parin kami (SCE) sa kung ano talaga ang nakalagay sa E-Code.”
SCE Infograph
The number of unqualified candidates for the 2017 University Student Elections stands as 24 from SENTRO La Salle, one from Sinag political party, and four from RED Alliance.
However, in the infographic posted by the SCE on their Facebook page on March 27, the Sinag political party was shown to have three unqualified candidates. Shortly after on March 29, the SCE declared two of Sinag’s candidates, Fiona Dominique Raguin and Alyssa Marie Gamban, as official candidates for the student election.
In the case of Raguin, the SCE said that Sinag political party included her name in the List of Members as “Ona Raguin” which was supported by her COC personal information, stating that “her Name to Appear on the Ballot is FIONA ‘ONA’ RAGUIN.” Hence, the commission accepted those two names as the same identity.
As for Gamban’s supposed missing recommendation letter from CLAC Dean Christian George Francisco, only the incumbent and running CLACSC President Neil Oliver Perez submitted the recommendation letter for the entire Sinag CLACSC slate to avoid photocopying the official letter. As such, the commission accepted Perez’s recommendation letter as the recommendation letter of all candidates, including Gamban.
As of press time, the SCE is yet to update the final lineup of candidates uploaded on their Facebook page.