POLITICAL PARTY Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UST (STAND-UST) will not be allowed to participate in the elections this academic year after it was suspended by the Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) Commission on Elections (Comelec) for not reaching the minimum number of members required for accreditation.
In a resolution dated Oct. 24, the AB Comelec said STAND-UST submitted only 18 names of members when the minimum number of members for a local political party is 35, as stated in Article I Section 5 (h) of the UST Students’ Election Code (USEC) of 2011.
AB Comelec Chairperson Ayla-Rhey Salapare said the supposed members of STAND-UST also had incomplete requirements, and that the political party did not submit a list of active alumni and a beginning financial statement.
“Because of the suspension, STAND-UST shall continue to have a juridical personality but has lost the rights to hold University-sanctioned activities,” Salapare told the Flame in an online exchange.
STAND-UST Chairperson Nicolo Bayona Bongolan said the political party came short in their propaganda for recruiting members.
“Hanggang [Oct. 23] sinubukan namin makapag-[recruit] para umabot sa quota ng 35 members. Unfortunately, hindi namin naabutan ‘yung quota,” Bongolan said.
Despite the suspension, he stressed that STAND-UST will remain to uphold its principles. “[T]uloy pa rin ang laban ng mga estudyante para sa kanilang karapatan sa loob ng unibersidad at para sa karapatang pandemokratiko sa labas ng unibersidad.”
STAND-UST is prohibited to hold “fora, fund-raising projects, information campaigns and the like, and to participate in the electoral exercise by fielding candidates,” the resolution read.
The Students’ Democratic Party (SDP), on the other hand, is now allowed to participate in the elections this year after regaining accreditation.
SDP was denied accreditation last year after failing to submit a second copy of the necessary documents for the process.
Political parties Grand Alliance for Progress and Dekada remained accredited this year. F – LUIS MIGUEL B. ARUCAN
