On March 25, Friday, the UP Diliman University Student Council (UPD USC) proposed 38 amendments to the 1980 USC Constitution at their 19th General Assembly. The Constitutional Committee headed by Councilor Andrew Ronquillo together with the Legal Issues and Concerns Committee laid the complete report of the amendments.
Under the Marcos regime, all formations in the university were abolished, including student councils. It was until 1980 that the former UP Student Council was reestablished. Currently, the founded 1980 Constitution prevails at the university.
The first amendment reads: “The Constitutional Committee agreed to adopt stylistic changes such as grammar, gender-neutral address, and proper titles of the offices as referred to in the 1980 Constitution.”
“We want to highlight the importance of the gender-neutral address, especially in our documents that codify the rights, responsibilities, and principles of the student council, hence, we applied the transgender non-conforming (TGNC) address Constitution,” Ronquillo said.
An amendment on Article I, Section 1 also seeks to rename the Constitution to “Constitution of the UP Diliman University Student Council” from its 1980 version “Constitution of the UP Student Council in Diliman.”
This is to complement another amendment in Article I, Section 3 that opts to omit “and units in Manila,” about the definition of “University” or “UP Diliman” in the Constitution.
“We do acknowledge that UP Manila is an autonomous unit. It’s a separate campus from that of Diliman,” Ronquillo stated, adding that the 1980 Constitution was formed “pre-UP System” establishment. “We want to value the democratic process of Student Regent nomination and selection that’s why we opted to amend that.”
To future-proof it, all administrative supervision of the Diliman Chancellor, including that of DEPO, BGC, and the Law Extension Program in Iloilo, would cover the term UP Diliman.
Some amendments also tackled the mechanisms for electing college representatives and council members. One of which is the deliberation among local college councils or intervention of college administrations to select a college representative “in cases of vacancy in the position/s.”
All 29 present Council members approved the 38 amendments, passing the “three-fourth of the Council” requirement to declare a win.
The amendments are bound for consultation with the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA) up to UP President Danilo Concepcion. If approved, a “university-wide plebiscite” will be called where all qualified voters of UP Diliman will cast their votes if they are foror againstthe amendments.
The results of the votation will be adopted by the new USC and, eventually, the amended Constitution will pervade.
Meanwhile, the USC eyes CRS to be the platform for the plebiscite, in conjunction with the SETs. The Council also discussed two proposed resolutions for the year 2022.
The first one was introduced by the Safety and Security Committee and the People’s Struggles Committee. It is entitled a resolution to declare the League of Parents Philippines (LPP), Hands off Our Children Movement (HOOCM), and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) as persona non-grata in the University of the Philippines. Citing the incessant red-tagging of UPD students and military intrusion into the university, the USC moved to adopt their first resolution.
The second resolution was authored by the Good Governance Committee and the People’s Struggles Committee. It is a resolution fortifying the broad united opposition against the Marcos-Duterte alliance in the 2022 presidential and vice-presidential elections. The resolution highlights the ignored petitions to disqualify Marcos Jr. and opts to stand against the tyranny of the tandem. The Council then motioned to adopt the resolution.
The UPD USC is set to meet again next week, Thursday, to discuss a resolution for an endorsement of presidential and vice-presidential candidates concerning the second passed resolution.
Featured image courtesy of UP Diliman University Student Council
