The UP Diliman (UPD) University Student Council (USC) wields so much: power, influence, and the trust of the student body. When council members deliberately conceal from the electorate their background and affiliations, all three risk collapse.

A recent exposé on a newly elected councilor of the USC showed that the person in question is a member of the Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity, a Greek-lettered organization with a history of violence, including a brawl against another fraternity in 2018 with the investigation still in limbo. The student leader admitted his affiliation, but this information was withheld from the voters during the campaign period in May.

While the councilor has decided to step down from his post and co-headship of the 2024 UP Fair, the USC’s emergency general assembly last night revealed the council’s two main problems: lack of safeguards against nondisclosure of affiliations, and a glaring lack of urgency within the house.

In recent years, an invigorated debate on the existence of Greek organizations on campus ignited. A 2021 report by the Collegian showed that at least 264 incidents of fraternity-related violence transpired in UPD from 1991 to 2013, resulting in at least 207 injuries. Some of these same fratmen were also involved in the “Lonsi Leaks,” a trove of leaked conversations among Upsilon Sigma Phi members containing misogynistic, Islamophobic, and homophobic messages.

The university is in a tumultuous time now: a Marcos is back in Malacañang, student and democratic spaces continue to slim, fraternal and partisan relations mar the bureaucracy in Quezon Hall, and budget cuts loom large. Amid all these, the student body demands that the USC stand up to lead the student ranks—and leading requires honesty.

The constituency of UPD must ask why their now-former councilor chose not to divulge his affiliations when several occasions were presented before and during the campaign period. It was not like he was the only one in such a situation. The former councilor had a fellow aspirant who disclosed their membership in a fraternity and was defeated by abstention in May. This is not just a case of forgetting. This is deliberate concealment and going out of one's way to hide his affiliation–one that may cost their credibility.

The fact that it took the USC two weeks before holding a discussion all the while being radio silent, shows how its ranks are only fanning the air of distrust in UPD right now. Last night’s deliberation, albeit made public for UPD constituents to take part in, showed an apparent lack of urgency of the USC as many college representatives admitted they were unable to hold proper consultations.

The USC is vested with the duty to push for inclusive and safe spaces on campus and advance students’ democratic rights. Both demands are hampered by fraternities, as shown in their history and continued culture of violence, corruption, and clientelism.

The mere fact that one of its members is affiliated with those going against USC’s campaigns is in itself already tantamount to disloyalty to the constituents that all student leaders are bound to serve. These fratmen, at every possible turn, rebut and frustrate the advocacies of the USC toward safe spaces.

If the USC is striving to provide genuine student representation, then it must be assessed in the same rubric we place our national politicians in. Otherwise, we are just breeding the same enemy we vowed to fight.

This issue goes beyond a single person’s affiliation, but a need for institutional reckoning. Something like this happens because there is no safeguard against lying and deceit. The solution, then, is to uphold the highest standard for our student-leaders, the same way we hope the government to be. Amid a record-low turnout in the special elections and heightened distrust between leaders and their constituents, this event is the last thing that should have transpired.

Regardless of the councilor’s resignation, the present USC must have the will to clean up and consolidate its ranks. If we are all supposedly rallying towards a safe and inclusive UPD, we must call out those who go against it, and it must start with our own backyard. 

The UP administration, with its inaction to resolve frat rumbles, emboldens Greek organizations in continuing their violent culture knowing that they can get away with it. And so year after year, fratmen attempt to secure a position in the USC without holding them accountable for their violent history in the first place.

Now, after years of limbo, the UP administration must resolve previous cases on frat-related violence and secure all loopholes. The University Student Electoral Board must also strengthen the rule on affiliation disclosure, not to discriminate against certain organizations, but to ensure transparency in the election process. Only then can we ensure a safe campus for the students and honest student-leaders.

The USC must hold itself accountable to its constituents. Their calls for transparency last night are steps toward the desired direction, but for the students of UPD to unite and anchor their trust in the council, our student-leaders must uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct beginning with themselves. 

The USC must rectify its ranks, and submit itself to scrutiny by the electorate. And then it must go back to its fundamental element: principled service underscored with truth and honesty. These aren’t mere buzzwords.

The 8-percent voter turnout in the special elections in October may be attributed to several factors, but we cannot deny that there is an air of distrust in Diliman right now. Amid this predicate, the concern of the USC must be toward earning back the electorate’s trust.

Many have said that UP breeds the best and worst of us all. But that is only true because we allow it to be. The time to change is now, much time has passed. ●