THE FACULTY of Arts and Letters Commission on Elections (AB Comelec) has declared the temporary disqualification of Tindig UST-AB and its three members as “final and executory,” nullifying the votes cast for them during the elections last academic year.
A four-page resolution from AB Comelec dated Sept. 13 stated that a special election would be required to fill the positions of president, external vice president, secretary, auditor and public relations officer in the Artlets Student Council (ABSC) for the academic year 2024-2025.
The decision to temporarily disqualify the political party, president-elect Justine Claire Ello, secretary-elect Amaya Cabiling and public relations officer-elect Frances Ricci Tongco was due to violation of the Implementing Rules and Regulations 12 in relation to Article VII Sections 1.1 and 11 and Article VII Section 6 (o) of the UST Student Elections’ Code.
AB Comelec first announced the temporary disqualification of Tindig UST-AB and its three members last April 26, following their third campaign violation. The candidates shared campaign materials during a non-active campaign day and failed to remove some of their electronic campaign materials on different social media platforms the day before the election, the poll body said.
The Central Comelec initially reversed the temporary disqualification and cited a waiver of the violation after Tindig UST-AB lodged an appeal.
However, AB Comelec filed a motion for reconsideration and argued that the third offense alone warranted the temporary disqualification of Ello, Cabiling and Tongco and temporary prohibition of the political party.
The case was elevated to the Central Judiciary Board since the university-wide poll body is “barred from entertaining a motion for reconsideration.”
The judiciary board upheld the suspension in its final ruling, stating that the violation committed on a non-campaign day was enough to warrant the suspension regardless of earlier decisions.
Vacancies
Ello said the Artlets community may face “challenges” due to a lack of full-fledged officials fulfilling their respective roles and duties.
“We could all agree that this serves as a disadvantage for the student council and its constituents. When the executive board of the student council is incomplete, they will also not be able to deliver what they want to do for the students,” Ello told The Flame.
“As someone who has served a term in the council with an almost full executive board, it was already so challenging—so what if most positions are lacking?” she added.
Tongco said it is “disheartening” that her party’s visions and platforms for the student body would not be put to use.
“[W]aiting for the case to be resolved has imposed a lot of uncertainties in the future, not only for us but also for the student council and the student body,” she said.
“We have envisioned plans for improving the council and its services to the students, but it’s disheartening to see that we’ll never get the chance to implement them.”
Until the vacancies are filled, ABSC will only have three officials, namely, internal vice president Kevin Christian Crisolo, treasurer Nicole Lagunsad and chief-of-staff Raizel Ian Ocampo. F — Rachelle Anne Mirasol and Trisha Tamio
