BY Vyan David Abella and Johnson Santos

For the second year in a row, some UP Diliman University Student Council (USC) members will be elected through a special election as vacancies continue to hound the highest student body representative on the campus. This comes after Diliman’s studentry voted abstain during the regular polls last May, ending up with an undermanned council of only 13 college representatives.

This year’s special polls come with decidedly heightened competition for standard bearer positions, with two candidates running for chairperson and three for vice chairperson. 

But as the race tightens, some candidates have decided to join forces.

Despite the sequence of independence in the announcement of candidates, most have already grouped up into an alliance or another, in what seems to be an attempt to cover more ground and remedy the abstention and low turnout ills of the past election.

Continuing the Campaign

Chairperson candidate Sean Latorre (CMC) has been campaigning with vice chairperson candidate Franz Beltran (NCPAG) and councilor candidate Kristian Mendoza (CSSP) by his side this election. They have only campaigned together, though they are all still running as independents.

All three are outgoing officers of the USC, with Latorre serving as vice chairperson, Beltran as NCPAG representative, and Mendoza as community welfare councilor. They also ran before under the banner of the now in-limbo political party STAND UP.

Latorre remains affiliated with the CMC chapter of STAND UP and even represented the red party during Aktibisita 2024, a forum among political parties in Diliman.

When asked during the CSSP local forum about his choice to run as an independent candidate despite his current ties, Latorre noted that he still carries the principles of STAND UP, but the party itself is not ready to field any candidates amid internal rifts this past year.

The red party has not nominated any candidate since its withdrawal in the May 2023 polls, when cases of mishandled sexual harassment and assault cases surfaced. 

Despite the absence of a formal banner, the Latorre-Beltran-Mendoza ticket has become a caravan of its own, campaigning room-to-room together. Even statements of support have become package deals, with an endorsement for one typically translating into an endorsement for the rest.

For one, student leaders from the colleges of Home Economics, Fine Arts, and Business Administation expressed their support for all three candidates, a lot of them having collaborated with each other in the past year. Beltran also received additional backing from former USC and University Freshie Council officers.

Their work with the UP community throughout this past term also granted them endorsements from the campus’s sectoral groups like the UP Shopping Center Stallholders Association, Samahan ng mga Manininda sa UP Diliman, and the UP Transport Group.

Newly Formed Coalition

On the other side of the Latorre-Beltran-Mendoza ticket is the newly formed coalition led by independent vice chairperson candidate Dexter Clemente (CSSP).

Prior to the campaign, Clemente’s visibility was confined somewhat to his college, as the chairperson of the League of Filipino Students - CSSP. He even introduces himself first as part of the organization while carrying the league’s flag during room-to-rooms, particularly around CSSP and CAL.

Clemente also served in SALiGAN sa CSSP, which was once part of STAND UP before it disaffiliated amid the party’s row last year, with independent councilor candidate Joaquine Buenaflor (CSSP). But the affiliation doesn’t end there, as the two have also been seen campaigning together. 

But alliances truly broadened at the Clemente-led 10-point common platform agenda signing yesterday. He and candidates from CAL, namely councilor contenders Olivia Herrera, Ramon Christian Placido, and Aimee Ramos, and college representative candidate Nimra Gonzales formalized their coalition and joint campaign from hereon.

Herrera, Placido, and Gonzales have been seen campaigning together prior to the signing, as well.

The coalition also encouraged the remaining councilor and college representative candidates to co-sign the joint platform. But notably, other standard bearer candidates were excluded from the invitation.

In an aside with the Collegian, Clemente reasoned that the other standard bearer contenders’ platforms were not in line with the newly formed coalition’s, save possibly for independent chairperson candidate Andrew Ronquillo (CMC).

Solo Bids

Ronquillo is campaigning for chairpersonship as an independent candidate. He was once part of STAND UP, running under the red banner during his bid for councilorship in 2021. More recently, he was the national chairperson of the systemwide student council alliance KASAMA sa UP in 2023.

Backing for Ronquillo has primarily come from representatives of national organizations and notable UP alumni, like human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares and 2001 USC Chairperson Raymond Palatino.

But Ronquillo was also able to secure an endorsement from UP sectoral groups UP Workers’ Alliance and Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Guardia ng UP Diliman, along with Mendoza and the Clemente coalition prior to the signing of the agenda. 

Against the backdrop of independent candidates, Therese Mangussad (Engg) is UP Alyansa’s sole candidate. Her bid for vice chairpersonship is her second time in the bullpen, having run in the May 2023 polls, but ultimately losing to abstain.

Mangussad has earned the support of national parties in line with Alyansa’s politics, with Akbayan Representative Perci Cendaña endorsing her earlier today.

The blue party seems to be honing in its efforts into a single representative, as this marks the second election season that it chose to field only one candidate. After all, Alyansa suffered defeat across all standard bearer and councilor positions the last time it forwarded an almost full slate.

Alyansa first implemented this single-nominee strategy during the regular May polls. Though their sole councilor candidate still lost to abstain, he garnered the second-highest number of votes for councilorship among all candidates. It remains to be seen if this strategy pans out this time.

Call to Vote

Though the bid for standard bearers is a far cry from the unopposed slate of candidates in the May 2023 polls, candidates face an even tougher opponent: the abstain vote.

Candidates seem to be prioritizing on-ground visibility for these polls. Even their online platforms highlight the candidates’ room-to-room campaigns—to at least show the voting body that they’re adapting to calls for in-person initiatives.

Aside from the abstentions, this special election may also inherit from the most recent polls the threat of low voter turnout.

Last year’s special elections saw the lowest turnout in university history, with only 8.29 percent of students voting. Even considering regular USC election voting trends, the 2023 special polls was a considerable outlier.

This year’s candidates seem to understand this more than anything, now ending their room-to-rooms with a last-minute reminder to vote at halalan.upd.edu.ph come election day.

The campaign period will end on October 27, while the much-awaited miting de avance will happen on October 28, 4 p.m., at the Vinzons Hall-Student Union Building Complex. The online polling for this special election will run from October 29-30. ●