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Electing officers in the Student Councils of selected Davao City Universities to promote different
types of Student Affairs participation in the campus

Delabahan, Cel Lord P.

Ateneo de Davao University

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Table of Contents

Title Page

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Table of Contents

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I- Introduction:

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A. Background of the Study ---------------------------------------

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B. Statement of the Research Problem

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C. Definition of Terms

II Presentation of the Argumentative Research

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A. Evidence in support of the major arguments

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B. Evidence in support of the counterarguments

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C. Analysis of the Major and Counterarguments

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D. Discussion of the Research Position/Stance/Viewpoint -----

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III Conclusion

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IV References

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I Introduction

Our future is in the hands of our youth this saying may already be a clich but it is so
true. The faith of our country really lies in our youths hands because only they would be the
future bearers of it. There are a lot of problems nowadays that our present leaders could not yet
solve and these matters are for the youth to deal with.
One of the major problems we have today lies on our government itself. Our system
seems to be not working as planned. This results to different problems in our society and the
biggest of them is poverty. Corruption, cheating, and lack of knowledge are the main reasons
why our governments governance does not work well. In order for the youth to help on dealing
with these problems, they have to be aware of the problems themselves. Promoting the
participation of students on making student governments/councils possible is one way of making
them aware. This gives them the idea of what a government really means. They would have the
opportunity on leading their co-students in their journey to development. Student councils are
very much like our own government but it is smaller. This would train them on handling political
matters which they could later use in the bigger political arenas.

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A. Background of the Study

The youth nowadays lack the needed political awareness that they need in order for them
to help our country innovate. The students hold a very big number of our youth and increasing
their political participation would bring a greater hope on making our youth politically aware.
One way of making them participate on political matters is making them experience its
environment first hand. Participation on student councils is a great way on making this possible.
One of the basic political organizations in the country can be found in schools. A student
government is one that represents the entire student body with the ideals of promoting student
welfare and maintaining a harmonious relationship with the school administration and creating
programs that are in synch with the schools ideals, goals, and regulations. This is very particular
to Universities in Davao City, of which the University of Immaculate Conception, University of
the Philippines Mindanao, University of Mindanao, University of Southeastern Philippines and
Ateneo de Davao University all exhibit a student government organization that is not too same or
too different from each other.

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B. Statement of the Research Problem

The study done provides comparative information on how the Student Governments in
these said Universities function, as well as their respective roles, objectives, and goals in
strengthening and establishing a successful student participation in the campus. Problems
encountered, prospective projects for the foreseeable future of the school and the constant timetabled election and replacement of student government officers all account as the tasks that the
Student Governments perform on a school year or term basis.
This study is limited only to the aforementioned five Universities in the city of Davao.
These said Universities were chosen through an unorganized basis of school merits, distinctions,
accreditations, student populace and cooperativeness.
The proponents of this research would like to know the different effects of Student Councils to
the political participation of students specifically on the different universities on Davao City.
Through this research, the proponents would know the specific benefits student councils would
give to the political awareness and participation of students. This research aims to provide ways
on how could we improve the political awareness of students which may prepare them on the
bigger things that is yet to come in their lives.

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C. Definition of Terms

The technical terms to be defined in this study are the following:

Collegiate- Belonging or relating to a college, university or any tertiary school

Isko/Iska- Shortened Tagalog term for Iskolar, or Scholar. A common campus term for
University of the Philippines students. Isko is for the male and Iska for the female
counterpart.
Politics- The act of making collective decisions for the good of the many
Political arena- Anything that is concerned with politics
Political awareness- It is how the students is actually affected by the political arena especially
with the problems within it.
Popular Voting- The vote for a candidate, issue, etc., made by the qualified voters, as opposed
to a vote made by elected representatives.

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II Presentation of the Argumentative Research

A. Evidence in support of the major arguments

The University of the Philippines- Mindanao, according to the UP- Mindanao University
Student Council (2012), has the University Student Council as its highest ruling student body
which is composed of division representatives, organization representatives and major officers
elected at large by all the students.
Being at the forefront of Philippine Public Education as the acclaimed and top ranked
branch of collegiate school in the country, UP-Mindanao elects its officers in a university-wide
tertiary education election that encompasses all isko and iska scholars that are enrolled
through-out the specific semester in which the election is due. The principles of Democracy are
largely present in all UP-Mindanao Student Council elections and even minority meetings, as it
is deemed in synch with the schools ideals, and that of the nation.
The school stated, The type of council the school has and its officers are elected by
students from different levels through popular voting. (Ateneo de Davao University, 2012).
With regards to Ateneo de Davao Universitys own Student Government, the Samahan
Central Board (SCB), popular voting is applicable to all enrolled undergraduate students that are
not part of the Commission on Election. In lieu with the Democratic principles of the country as
well as recognizing the right to suffrage of the certified students of the school, a popular voting is
ensued annually, usually at the first month of the year, for all the SCB positions.

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According to the Ateneo de Davao University (2012), AdDU definitely prefers activities
which flowed directly out of university curriculum.
This is in accordance to the Jesuit Mission and that of the Catholic faith and morals of
which the school has laid its foundations since its inception. School-wide activities and
celebrations are mostly in virtue to Catholic related religious activities, usually starting or ending
with a mass. The University Fiesta, College Days and major Catholic Saints are all given utmost
importance and highlight as it is in direct flow of the Universitys curriculum, vision and
mission.
The University, being run by the Religious of the Virgin Mary, sets its side in tackling
issues in support and respect of the human person, especially the welfare of the poor. The side of
the just, the preservation of the integrity of the creation and its creator, and the Filipino culture
and values are all that the school promotes in pursuing a chosen path in the issues of
globalization and modernization. (Dumanog, J. 2010). With this constructive sentence, the
University of Immaculate Conception, just like the Ateneo de Davao University, permits school
activities which are in the core of Christian faith and values, but specifically focused on the
betterment of the nation, its people and what lies in between them.
According to Dumanog, J. (2010), the University of Immaculate Conception allows
involvement in sensitive nationwide issues as long as they are within the laws of the land. By
virtue of the Philippine Constitution and all statutes that followed it, its University students are
permitted to be involved in any issues (socio-political, environmental, and economical) that the
school, city, or the country is involved, so long as their actions do not violate the said laws.

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B. Evidence in support of the counterargument

As stated by (Cubillas, C. 2012), University elections are classified into Grade School,
Laboratory High School and Tertiary School. These are three different and non-university-wide
elections. Each is handled by their respective School-Level advisers and officers can only govern
at their own School-Level, and is entirely independent from each other. As for the matters of the
more important Tertiary Level, it applies to all Campus branches in the said city-wide University
student populace.
As said by Ortiz, Ph.D, J (2011), USEP has taken an autonomous vigilance to the
Governments P 146 M budget cut, despite being a state-run university and provisionally state
owned, the USEP Student Government and some sympathizing faculty members united together
to protest the Administrations inability to take action in this matter.
Ateneo de Davao University (2012) observed that, these yearly elections of SCB officers
brings a new variety of mindset that continues the legacy of its previous school year activity
schedules, yet differentiates it through improvisation of newly accumulated ideas, making it
somewhat unrecognizable from its predecessors programs and activities; as it is either perceived
as better than that of the last years or worse..
The University of the Philippines-Mindanao University Student Council (2012) inferred
that The University of The Philippines-Mindanao USC were given permission to accommodate

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Presidential and Senatorial candidate visits and forums in the school, as it was on par with UPs
Student Constitution, but openly using the Schools name to support any candidate or party shall
merit the students with the appropriate punishments.
The University of Mindanao as described by Cubillas, C. (2012), promotes these
discussions so long as the issues being discussed affected the university community directly and
were societal issues in general, the university provided a forum and facilitated the discussions.
The University of the Philippines, as represented by the UP-Mindanao University Student
Council (2012) believed that such a campaign for political party or denomination would not be
very healthy because their credibility might be at stake and that the University cannot afford to
lose a step due to political matters.

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C. Analysis of the Major and Counterarguments

Most Student Council officers in the five said Universities are elected through popular
voting that is within the democratic representation of the countrys government. It is a fact that
the proper representation of students to elect their own selected representatives is one of the
smallest level political examples of exercising the rights to suffrage.
Yet, in the other hand, the election cycle of most Student Councils per semester or school
year disrupts the continuity and coherence of some Student Council produced or managed
programs. Some long-term projects and activities proposed or already underway that are done by
the previous set of Student Government officers may or may not be continued by the next set of
newly elected officers, especially if many of the previous set of officers were replaced by a
relatively new breed of student leaders. Conflicts in interest and the new set of plans
promulgated by the new administration of Student Government officers are reasons why the
continuity and the success of programs and activities by the latter administration are always in
peril, or in danger of being defunct.
Majority of the Universities encourage activities within favour of the University
curriculum and interests. Such activities, whether academic or non-academic by nature at least
must have followed certain parts of the set of ideals, mission, vision and curriculum that the
University has been following or has adopted and laid its foundations with.

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However, due to a set of things that must be followed before the conception of activities,
some important and high-impact activities with good potential may not fall in accordance to the
University curriculum or interest. Some activities that may cover resolutions or game-changing
propositions to certain topics and issues that the school or the students need to address may not
be inside the zone of the school curriculum. It may not be otherwise approved by the school
administration, and the neglect of these important matters might be a huge loss for the university,
or its students.
Any political issue can be discussed between most of the Student Councils and
Universities. These issues pertain to anything even other than socio-political, environmental,
economical and school-related issues.
The discussion of most political issues between most Student Councils and Universities
are only limited to the schools educational scope, thus limiting the action that the School can
make in most of these issues. No matter what issues or topic under the sun that the Student
Councils might want to address to the University administrations, some of these Schools only
allow the settlement or solving of issues that are of education purposes or intention as its
background. This limits the capabilities of students to help in resolving such topics, as they are
limited to the nature of their order, by being confounded to the laws and regulations of their
school.

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D. Discussion of the Researcher's Position/Stance/Viewpoint

With all the arguments presented thoroughly, in a simplified, yet clearly stated manner,
the researchers believe that Student Affairs participation in the five Davao City Universities are
almost the same, except with a few conflicts of interest. With their form of Student Government,
popular voting is the means for all University Student Governments in electing their respective
Student Officers. Majority of the Universities also promote the making of academic, nonacademic and special activities that are within the bounds of their religious set of ideas, visions,
missions and curriculum. Moreover, political issues of most Universities are represented between
the Student Council and that of the School Administration, with actions to topics restricted only
to that which does not violate the laws of the land, and are purely of good intent to resolve these
issues. The freedom of speech, and that of subsequent freedom of the students on expression,
varied differently from each University. It depends upon the background that the certain
University had set its ideals, whether religious, like that of Ateneo de Davao and University of
Immaculate Conception, or of Public interest like that of the University of The PhilippinesMindanao, University of Mindanao, and University of Southeastern Philippines.

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III- Conclusion

Of the five said Universities, Ateneo de Davao University and the University of
Immaculate Conception have the most related parts of the structural types of their Student
Government. University of Southeastern Philippines and UP- Mindanao as state universities
abide by the same standards of academic excellence in their Student Councils, with the
University of Mindanao Central Student Government taking the middle ground in between
religious and general issues that concerns the University and its students.

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References

Cubillas, C. (2012). University of Mindanao Central Student Government, Accoutancy Program

Representative. Interview. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
Dumanog, J. (2010). University of Immaculate Conception Human Resource. Retrieved from
University website: http://uic.edu.ph/webroot/default.efm/menu_id=345c9oa
Ortiz, Ph.D, J (2011). University of Southeastern Philippines Strategic Plan for 2007-2021
[Electronic Version]. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from
http://www.usep.edu.ph/version/pages.ph
The Samahan Central Board 2011-2012, Retrieved January 12, 2012, from Ateneo de Davao
University website: http://addu.edu.ph/option?content_task_155

University of the Philippines- Mindanao University Student Council. Retrieved January 12,
2012, from University website: http://www.upmin.edu.ph/index.php?option221