Incumbent basic student services councilor Joaquin Buenaflor (CSSP) and UP ALYANSA bet Chloe Antonio (NCPAG) will serve as next year’s University Student Council chairperson and vice chairperson, respectively.
This election once again saw record-breaking turnout, with 40.00% of the student electorate casting their votes this cycle. It tops last year’s special elections by 2.87 points, which was already the highest since the online polls in 2021.
Buenaflor, the sole candidate running in the chairperson race, won with 6,082 votes. His race managed to evade the fates of the 2023 and 2024 regular elections, where the unopposed candidates succumbed to the abstain vote by a wide margin.
Meanwhile, Antonio—a former STAND UP affiliate—took the win with 3,173 votes, though both she and Laban Kabataan coalition candidate Darlene Cerico (CS) were behind the abstention vote.
Antonio was proclaimed in break with the precedent set in the 2023 polls, which saw the standard bearer posts vacated due to abstentions taking the majority of the vote. The University Student Electoral Board decided against honoring the 4,151 votes cast for “abstain,” citing that more students voted for the two candidates than neither.
All eight candidates running for councilor will join Buenaflor and Antonio in the council. Amanda Echanis (CAL) ranked first with 4,830 votes, making history as the first political prisoner to be elected to the council.
They will also be joined by representatives from CAL, CMC, CS, CSWCD, CSSP, DEPPO, Econ, Eduk, Eng’g, and NCPAG. Other colleges are expected to fill the position through appointments or special elections.
The electoral board will accept protests starting Monday until May 26, 12 p.m. ●
With reports from Dean Gabriel Amarillas, Iñigo Pastor, and Vyan David Abella.
College Representatives
