ALL FOUR independent sophomore candidates have secured their spot for the Executive Board of the UST Journalism Society (JournSoc) for the academic year 2020-2021.
Marymon Frances Reyes will lead the Journalism Society as the next president after securing 182 votes with 40 abstain in this year’s poll.
“Running for presidency is more than [the idea of] having 10 months to work, it’s working with what you have and working with it the best way you can,” Reyes said on term limitations.
Jessie Jayms Rival won the position of secretary with 176 votes while 46 journalism students who did not cast their votes.
With 184 votes, Marsella Yvonne Sy will be the next treasurer of JournSoc. Thirty-eight students did not vote.
Aubrey Sto. Tomas was proclaimed public relations officer for this year after garnering 175 votes, however, 47 students left the post unanswered.
A total of 222 journalism students participated in this year’s JournSoc poll with a 65.29-percent voter turnout.
The candidates must reach at least 51 percent of the total registered JournSoc members to secure their spot, according to the JournSoc Board of Elections (BOE).
Journ identity
Reyes told The Flame that her term will focus on shaping the identity of journalism students through “Sulat Mo, Ambag Mo.”
“Sulat Mo, Ambag Mo is about everyone’s [journalism students] participation [in submitting] their literary works and articles, and we will be posting that using the official social media accounts of JournSoc,” Reyes said.
“UST Journalism Society pero nasaan ang embodiment ng identity natin? Medyo kulang pa,” she said.
Reyes also guaranteed that their term will be honest and transparent when it comes to failures and inconsistencies that may occur during her term.
“I will guarantee everyone that we will be having full accountability to unwanted errors along the way, walang tatakas dito [officers], and we will humbly apologize,” she said.
Special election
BOE Chairperson Anna Lafuente emphasized that there will be a special election for the vacant positions of vice president(VP)-internal, VP-external, and auditor.
“These vacant positions won’t remain vacant, as we will arrange [a] special election next semester,” the chairperson said.
She also cited that the change of schedules due to class suspensions has posed a challenge to the elections.
“We had to reschedule two times as a result of these suspensions. But we’re happy to see more than half of the voter population [participated] despite the setbacks,” she said.
The election was conducted last Dec. 4. It moved from Nov. 16 due to the announced academic break and preliminary examinations for two consecutive weeks.
The proclamation was held through the BOE’s official Facebook page on Saturday. F
