THE ARTLETS Student Council (ABSC) completed its executive board for the first time since academic year 2019–2020 after three candidates filled the remaining vacant posts in the 2026 special elections.
Legal Management seniors Enrique Miguel Duero and Rowen Darla Oloresisimo were proclaimed treasurer and auditor with 1,206 and 1,152 votes, respectively. Asian Studies junior Dominic John Guillermo secured the public relations officer (PRO) post with 1,187 votes.
After the academic year 2019-2020, unsuccessful candidacies, disqualifications, withdrawals and resignations continuously left the ABSC incomplete.
Years of vacancies
For academic year 2021–2022, the student council’s presidency was left vacant after Denzelle Jude Caro failed to obtain the simple majority required under the ABSC Constitution in a special election.
Vacancies persisted until academic year 2025-2026.
The ABSC’s executive board for academic year 2022–2023 only saw four of its posts filled, leaving the treasurer, auditor and public relations officer positions vacant.
The following academic year, the council failed to complete its lineup after lone treasurer candidate Zadie San Juan withdrew from the elections, prompting the AB Commission on Elections (AB Comelec) to declare a failure of special elections in November 2023.
For academic year 2024-2025, three of the most-voted candidates for the council from political party Tindig UST-AB were disqualified over campaign violations. The disqualification left five positions vacant. However, no special elections were held that year despite empty ABSC posts.
The next ABSC was left with only four officers after its internal and external vice presidents resigned in September 2025, just weeks after their proclamation during the special elections.
Special polls winners
Elected ABSC treasurer Duero previously served as executive coordinator to the treasurer of both the ABSC and the UST Central Student Council (CSC), holding the local post for two terms beginning in AY 2024–2025. He also served as treasurer of UST Hiraya in the previous academic year.
Oloresisimo’s election as auditor followed several bids for both local and central student council posts. She previously ran for vice presidency in the 2025 special elections of the UST Central Student Council (CSC), but her proclamation was put on hold following an election protest against her candidacy.
Under the UST Student Elections Code, only incumbent officers of the CSC or local student council executive boards are eligible to run for the central council’s president or vice president positions.
Oloresisimo was also the coordinator under the CSC Office of the Public Relations Officer. She later ran for ABSC president in 2026 but also lost the race.
Guillermo, the new student council PRO, served as the council’s executive coordinator under the public relations office last academic year. He was also the co-director of marketing and promotions the year prior.
READ: ABSC special polls draw low voter turnout, spark concerns over ‘rigid,’ ‘rushed’ electoral system
Out of 4,664 official Artlets, 1,739 students cast their ballots in the special elections, recording a voter turnout of 37.08%.
This turnout is an improvement from the 29.22% or 1,251 of more than 1,400 recorded in last year’s special elections.
A total of 1,672 students left their ballots blank in this year’s special elections for the treasurer (533), auditor (587) and PRO (552) posts. F — with reports from Alden Stephen Texon
