Saligan sa CSSP dominated this year’s CSSP SC elections as a “red wave” swept the rest of UP Diliman.
SALiGAN’s Neo Aison, a linguistics major, became the first CSSP SC Chairperson from the party in recent election cycles. He defeated BUKLOD CSSP’s Regina Buco, an Anthropology major, in a tight race. Aison carried 42.86% of the vote to Buco’s 40.72%.
BUKLOD’s Robin Traballo ekes out a narrow victory to become the next CSSP SC Vice Chairperson. Running unopposed, Traballo earned 575 votes (51.56% of the total) against 540 who opted to ‘abstain’ for the position.
Meanwhile, SALiGAN’s Andre Arellano will become the next CSSP SC Representative to the University Student Council after defeating BUKLOD’s James Politico with the election’s largest margin for standard bearers, 49.68% to 29.97%.
For the councilors, all six candidates from both parties will go on to serve in the student council after beating the ‘abstain’ vote. Vayne del Rosario from SALiGAN is this year’s top councilor in this election cycle with 599 votes (the most raw votes of any candidate).
SALiGAN’s Erwin Medina (573) and Julian Formadero (553) came in second and third respectively while BUKLOD’s Bob Villarin (468), Kim Pañares (457), and Kareena dela Cruz secured (447) the fourth to sixth councilor posts. Two hundred fifty five students abstained from voting for any councilor.
SALiGAN’s Hannah Aggabao (189) and BUKLOD’s Glendale Delos Santos (173) will be the next Psychology Department Representatives. Ged Guevarra (147) from Buklod failed to make the cut. Aggabao as the top Psych Dept Rep is a shocker because the Psychology Department has been a consistent BUKLOD CSSP base for years.
Two out of three independent candidates succeeded in clinching council positions. For Political Science Department Representative, Independent candidate Marco Terrado (163) wins in a landslide against Buklod’s Andy Santiago (46), a whopping 69.65% to 19.65% difference.
Despite drawing much controversy during the campaign period for being Harry Roque’s daughter, Independent candidate Bianca Roque registered a decisive win to become the next Kasaysayan Department Representative. Roque, who had served as the CSSP FSTC History Department Representative and AngKas Core Group Head, carried for her 63 (86.30%) votes.
Meanwhile, BUKLOD’s Carlo Felipe cruised to victory to become the next Geography Department Representative. He garnered 83.11% of the votes.
In the closest race in this year’s elections (by raw vote margin), SALiGAN’s Timothy Laranang (53) beats Independent candidate Aaron Carreon (48) by five votes — with nine abstaining — to become the next Philosophy Department Representative.
For Linguistics Department Representative, SALiGAN’s Janina Navarra (63) registered the largest vote percentage of any candidate in this year’s elections with 88.73%
Finally, SALiGAN’s Veronica Consolacion (103) made quick work of the ‘abstain’ vote, carrying 85.83% to become the next Sociology Department Representative.
Only the Anthropology Department Representative position is open for the special elections since there were no candidates who ran during the regular elections.
This year’s 17-man CSSP Student Council has nine members from SALiGAN, six from BUKLOD, and two Independents. However, Terrado remains affiliated to university-wide political party KAISA UP. The newly-elected council will be headed by Neo Aison, who also served as CSSP FSTC Chairperson from 2019 to 2020.
“Una sa lahat, ikinagagalak kong tanggapin ang tiwala sa akin ng mga kapwa ko Konsensya ng Bayan. Makasaysayan man ang pagkakahalal ng “first red chair in recent history”, hindi rito nagwawakas ang pagdaluyong ng kasaysayan, ng ating pagtindig at paglaban para sa ating mga demokratikong karapatan. Kasabay ng tiwalang ipinahayag ng mga mag-aaral sa kanilang mga halal na kinatawan ang hamon na lalong pagbutihin ang pagkilos at pagsulong ng mga kampanyang masa,” Aison said in an exclusive interview with SINAG.
SALiGAN’s “comeback” after three years of not fielding candidates due to organizational issues broke their humorously-dubbed “Lotlot de Leon” streak since Lakan Umali and seven others from SALiGAN’s ‘CSSP, Tayo” slate posted the party’s last major victory in 2016 before the party went on electoral participation hiatus in 2018.
SALiGAN campaigned under the message of #MagKaSaMaKAPP and #StandUpTogether, promising a renewed “konsultatibo, sandigan, and makamasa” leadership to fight for academic freedom and ligtas na balik-eskwela.
“Ang panalo na ito ay patunay ng kapasyahan ng mga Konsensya ng Bayan na magkaroon ng konsultatibo, sandigan at makamasang representasyon sa gitna ng matinding krisis dulot ng pandemya at ng mga atake ng rehimeng Duterte,” SALiGAN sa CSSP wrote in their victory statement.
*The numbers inside the parentheses are the raw votes clinched by the candidates.
