by MARIE CLAIRE LAGRISOLA and MATTHEW DAVE A. JUCOM
NEWLY-ELECTED Executive Board officers are set to lead the UST History Society (HSTSOC) for the next academic year (AY), History Society – Commission on Elections (HSTSOC Comelec) announced Monday evening.
History sophomore Joel Benedict Cabo will lead the History Society as its next president after securing votes from 15 districts.
Cabo believes that there is a need to provide sufficient student support and representation.
“It seems that there has been a lack of the said services [student support and representation] from the societies these days due to the challenges posed by the pandemic, but I do not blame the current executive board at all. They have tried in the best of their capabilities, despite taking the blow,” Cabo told The Flame.
Also with votes from 15 districts, sophomore Emil Bautista secured the position of vice president.
Freshman Moira Pauline Iradel won the position of secretary after garnering votes from 14 districts, while one district left the post unanswered.
The three officers ran unopposed while the positions for treasurer, auditor, and public relations officer were left vacant in this year’s poll.
‘Open fund drive’
Cabo said he aims to deliver programs to help reduce the History community’s problems in studying online by conducting an open fund drive with Bautista to support the students’ access to internet connection.
The open fund drive would help the history majors in times of calamities and disasters by providing the affected students with basic needs through donation drives, and online education assistance, such as pocket WiFi and load, said Cabo.
“[With the open fund drive], we were able to get updates from students and their state. We forwarded these data to the chair. The next phase, which will be done in the next administration, is to provide aid to students who will be affected, through those donation drives,” he added.
Aside from this, Cabo also said that he also wants the Society to be active outside the virtual borders of UST through contributing to the pool of discussions to dispel historical negations such as the recent issue of the claim that Lapu-Lapu was from Mindanao and controversy about the state of the Philippines during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
“As history majors, we need to clear those historical distortions and build an identity that is truthful and that brings us pride as Filipino people,” said Cabo.
Special election
HSTSOC Comelec Chairperson Kenneth Vergara also told The Flame that a special election for vacant positions will be conducted two weeks after the AY 2021-2020 has begun.
However, if the University continues with the online classes next semester, Vergara said they will conduct an online special election.
When it comes to the voting process, Vergara elaborated that the entire population of history majors is divided into five electoral districts per year level, creating 15 districts in total. Each district will determine a candidate to vote as one.
“This means that the determinant for the winning candidate is not through popularity of the whole batch, but the winning candidate per electoral district. Furthermore, the total electoral district won by each candidate will then be counted to determine the votes they have garnered,” said Vergara.
The online election was conducted last April 21. F
