On March 25, majority of the aspiring candidates still submitted their COCs on the last day of filing in the Student Commission on Elections office despite last year’s issues, as confirmed by SCE Commissioner Yna Patricia Tan.
“Gano’n pa rin tulad dati, noong previous years, lagi silang nag–fa-file sa dulo [ng deadline]. Unlike kung magpapasa [sana] sila ng Monday, they would still have Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for them to compile their missing requirements,” Tan said.
According to her, only one slate, the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology Student Council from Sinag political party, filed their COC together on the first day of COC filing, while only a few other aspiring candidates submitted theirs individually on March 23 and 24.
One of the problems encountered by the SCE and the aspiring candidates includes the submission of requirements.
“Requirement namin (SCE) is dapat ang documents nila ay naka-ring bind except sa mga may one COC, dahil two copies naman talaga ang nasa memorandum,” Tan added.
She furthered that the SCE has become stricter in terms of deadlines wherein they will not allow extensions or accept late submissions of COCs.
“Hindi na talaga kami magbibigay ng extensions—strict po talaga, kahit 5:01 PM dumating dito (SCE office), hindi na talaga [namin pagbibigyan],” she said.
Tan said that the SCE also aims to have a more organized and disciplined process of following deadlines to avoid possible conflicts in the future.
During the academic year 2015-2016 University Student Elections, a number of unofficial candidates weren’t able to run due to lack of requirements brought by late submission and filing of COCs, which left different offices vacant.