Ateneo Student Judicial Court

In the Matter of the General Elections of Academic Year 2015-2016

Gian Paulo Alberto V. Soliman
Petitioner
Versus
Ateneo COMELEC
Respondent
To:
The Honorable Magistrates of the Student Judicial Court, the humble petition of the petitioner
above named
Petition for Injunction
I, Gian Paulo Alberto V. Soliman, (as petitioner) hereby file a petition for injunction against the Ateneo
COMELEC (as respondent) and the memoranda regarding the 2016 General Elections.
Introduction
The Sanggunian has been faced with consistent failures of elections for various positions, leaving
a large number of offices unoccupied. Yet, the General Elections for the Sanggunian will still be occurring
this second semester, AY 2015 2016, made apparent in the announcement of the Ateneo COMELEC
Calendar (Memo no. 201635), the Official List of Candidates for the 2016 General Elections (Memo no.
201638), and the Updated List of Candidates for the 2016 General Elections (Memo no. 201639). The
candidates running for office will consist of three block representatives.
Main Argument
The petitioner believes that for the COMELEC to pursue General Elections indirectly harms the
student body through the risk of misrepresentation.
This is because of the silence of the Constitution on matters of when there are no Central Board
officers present, especially in the period between General and Special Elections. In the instance that
these student officers are elected as Block and Course Representatives, the petitioner questions
whether the silence of the Constitution on matters of when there are no Central Board officers present
between the period of General and Special Elections can be used as grounds for these representatives to
assume, whether in part or in full, powers and responsibilities that are not originally under their
jurisdiction because of their limited mandate. These powers and responsibilities include, according to
Article VII, Section 2 of the Constitution, being the main governing and representative authority of the
student body.
Thus, these representatives may have the authority to speak on behalf of the student body,
while their mandate itself is very limited. The rest of the student body, by nature, did not have a chance
to vote for or against these representatives. Even if the argument can be made that having elected
officials is better than having nobody at all, to transfer the authority, privileges, and power of the
Sanggunian to these representatives will be misrepresentative of the students.

Relief
Wherefore, the petitioner pleads that the SJC grants a temporary restraining order on all operations and
electoral exercises pertaining to the General Elections by the Ateneo COMELEC, in line with Article XIV
Section 3 Subsection a of the Constitution, which grants COMELEC the power to exercise control,
supervision and original jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to Sanggunian candidacy, campaign,
elections, plebiscites, and or referenda. The matter is of urgency, as elections will start next week on
Wednesday, the 14th of April, 2016.
The petitioner also pleads that the SJC deliberate on the merit of an injunction of the Sanggunian
General Elections scheduled to happen this Second Semester AY 2015-2016. Should the aforementioned
temporary restraining order be granted, this will give the SJC ample time to consider this course of
action in order to alleviate the risk of misrepresenting the student body should the elections succeed.
Wherefore, the petitioner also prays for other reliefs that the Court may deem just under the
established premises.

Quezon City, April 8, 2016.

(Sgd.)
Gian Paulo Alberto V. Soliman
Constituent
gibeau.soliman@gmail.com
09228411446