The COVID-19 pandemic has limited STAND UP to the screens throughout their campaign for this year’s University Student Council (USC) elections. This is an unfamiliar territory for a party that prides itself on a long history of going out of the confines of the university to integrate with the masses and to take the fight to the streets.
“Dahil sa matatag na pagkakaisa ng masa, ito ay isang inspirasyon sa STAND UP para ipamalas natin yung tunay na kapangyarihan ng kabataan na nagmumula sa paglahok upang maabot ang aspirasyon ng bansa para sa magandang kinabukasan ng lahat,” said Jonas Abadilla, who is running for chairperson under STAND UP.
For more than 20 years, the party has strived to mobilize students and urged them to learn from peasants, workers, indigenous people, and other marginalized sectors. STAND UP remains true to its pro-democracy advocacy, with a slogan that rings nearly the same as in previous elections: “Para sa malayang pamantasan at bayan, Iskolar ng Bayan, stand up together!”
The party, however, has much to confront during these unprecedented times. Not only are its candidates and members physically walled off from the students and the wider UP community they have long been rallying, they are also called on to respond to issues thrown at it—from intransigent policy positions to questions about accountability—with the same intensity that it calls on students to unite with them.
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Mobility restrictions due to the pandemic have practically robbed the party of the opportunity to immerse in different sectors, inside and outside the university. Its members have been forced to rely on social media to communicate with each other and perform its core activities.
“Ang pinakamalaking hamon sa panahon ngayong setup is how to translate our mass movement online to on-the-ground activities. Paano natin itatanghal o yayanigin yung kasulukuyang administrasyon from the clamor that we have been echoing online?” Andrew Ronquillo, who is running as councilor under STAND UP, told the Collegian.
Despite these difficulties and limitations, the party has continued its membership expansion, orientation, and campaigns, both online and offline. In fact, STAND UP’s councilor candidates Mary Sunshine Reyes and Sean Kirby Latorre joined the party during their freshman year, this academic year. Both Reyes and Latorre did not join any mass organizations back in high school.
“Gusto kong i-organize pa yung sarili ko and mas malaman pa yung issues and kung ano yung mas malalim na suri sa mga ito," said Latorre, who first joined the League of Filipino Students. Reyes, for her part, joined because she believes in the party’s principles, especially its assertion of the right to education.
The party has also continuously conducted, via Zoom, educational discussions and forums about issues such as the state of jeepney drivers, peasants, and workers. The setup has opened an opportunity for individuals outside the university to join discussions, said Darlene Joyce Cerico, STAND UP’s campaign manager.
“Even in the slightest interaction, say, sharing news, sharing a statement, from that very small act, nai-influence natin sila,” Ronquillo said.
STAND UP has realized that there are avenues to still perform their staple activities to invite and organize individuals. But for a party that is known for marches and protests, online activities can only do so much.
In the past elections, STAND UP candidates went to picket protests and different communities as training for them to see first-hand why they need to forward their calls, said Shari Niña Oliquino, former USC Councilor from STAND UP in 2016. But now, the circumstances are different. The same experience would have deepened this year’s candidates’ understanding of the sectors whose concerns they are campaigning for, Abadilla said.
Making Its Presence Known
The shift to online campaigning has been easy for STAND UP since they have already conducted campaigns throughout the school year, such as “Defend UP” and “Ligtas na Balik Eskwela.” However, the party still needs to grow its social media presence, Cerico said.
It is worth noting, though, that STAND UP has the biggest party-alliance of organizations, fraternities, and sororities. It has around 10 college chapters and more than 30 member formations. Though the party would like to reach the whole student body, Cerico said, it primarily aims to reach colleges where the red banner does not have an edge based on the Collegian’s analysis of data from the past decade. At the same time, it also wants to strengthen its hold on the colleges that have consistently supported the party such as the College of Mass Communication and the College of Arts and Letters.
The party and each candidate, on their respective social media pages, posted various campaign materials that keep up with viral trends. They created and posted TikTok videos and short vlogs, mainly about themselves and their advocacies, shot in the comfort of their homes. Each candidate from the party also shared statements of support from different individuals.
“Gusto natin na yung mga makikita nila ay yung madaling ma-absorb kumbaga ... at nililimitahan din namin yung sobrang mahahabang mga posts,” Cerico said, hinting at the departure from their usual long statements on social issues.
Social media presence is a major deciding factor in choosing whom to vote for given the setup, said Andrie Plaza*, a second-year student who will vote for the first time in this year’s election. For Plaza, the videos of STAND UP are effective since the content is relatable and relevant to today’s setup.
“I'm not quite sure with the supporting statements about them because I do acknowledge that there may be biases since the statements may come from friends, org mates, or through forms of personal connection, so I don’t really put much regard on them,” Plaza said.
While some of the candidates’ strategies did not stick the landing, the party saw to it that they stayed true to the message and tone of the campaign right to end, where, in a six-minute video, the standard bearers, Abadilla and Izabelle Dolores, continue to challenge students to be part of collective action on different local and national issues.
Calls and Intersections
STAND UP has reaffirmed its belief in unity as the driving force in claiming victories or concessions. “Pagtingin ko, nananatili iyong kaniyang campaign style [at] strategy na labas sa kampanyang elektoral. Bitbit ng mga kandidato ng STAND UP yung kampanyang masa,” Oliquino said, adding that electoral campaigns are, more importantly, avenues for awareness-raising.
In its General Plan of Action, the party underscores the Duterte government’s criminal negligence over the pandemic response. It also highlights the continued attempt of the state to silence its critics through the Anti-Terror Law and the abrogation of the UP-DND Accord.
The party also continues to stress that education is a right. In its Specific Plans of Action (SPOA), it amplifies its calls for the junking of the Socialized Tuition System (STS), the removal of limitations to avail free tuition benefits, and the end to the collection of other school fees. This is contrary to the years-long call of Alyansa to reform STS instead.
The two parties’ varying stances are not only limited to the STS issue. “Ang malaking kaibahan ng STAND UP at Alyansa ay ang pagtingin nito sa masa,” said John Ray Dionisio, incumbent College of Home Economics Representative to the USC, who ran under STAND UP in 2019. While the former has long emphasized that we can learn from the masses, the latter considered the masses as “powerless” in its SPOA for this year.
But UP Alyansa's chairperson bet Dana Mica "Daine" Torregosa said, during the June 7 UPFront 2021, the official miting de avance and USC elections forum, “We don’t believe that the masses are powerless. The political structures we have right now, the systemic oppression we are experiencing, that renders us disempowered.”
STAND UP picked apart this gaffe, emphasizing that any calls for change must not downplay what the grassroots could do. The party struck the same note in 2016, when it last clinched the chairperson post. That same year, it also won seats for vice chairperson, seven of the 12 councilors, and 10 of the college representatives in the USC.
For Oliquino, the slate, then, owed its overwhelming win to the candidates’ effective campaigning—getting voters on the same page as they were with what they envisioned for the UP community. One of the platforms in their party’s GPOA, “Fair Enough,” aimed to revive the progressive orientation of the UP Fair as a platform for highlighting various issues. They rallied support for a revitalized UP Fair by promising a night-free entrance for all students.
“I think naka-relate talaga yung mga tao and at the same time, habang binibitbit namin yung campaign ng mga sector, nakita nila yung concrete na gusto naming dalhin sa USC,” Oliquino said.
By contrast, the party this year has failed to spell out its platforms in clearer terms. Its SPOA has left more questions than answers, particularly on matters concerning national issues, which is uncharacteristic of a party that is otherwise vocal about a slew of these issues.
Meanwhile, UP Alyansa's SPOA was able to define its platforms in terms the voters could easily pick up, as observed during UPFront, for example. Its candidates came in well-prepared and were able to trot out their SPOAs during the debate.
When vice chairperson candidates were asked how they would encourage students to vote in the national elections, Patricia Quarte of UP Alyansa cited #BotoIsko2022 Agenda which includes plans for a presidential debate in UP, “Isko Rehistro,” “Duterte by the Figures,” and “Boto Watch,” all of which were specified in Alyansa SPOA, as they should be. Izabelle Dolores of STAND UP said the party wanted to launch a voters’ education program. This was not included in the party’s SPOA.
Accountability on the Line
It is only expected for a party that asks for unity to be criticized for its firm stances that stray from the student majority’s views. With several pressing issues concerning its members still unresolved and brewing, the student body turns the question around on STAND UP: What unity is to be had when students remain wary of trusting its members who are yet to be held fully accountable?
Fraternity-related violence (FRV) remains a polarizing issue in the university. During UPFront, while the majority of UP Alyansa's bets voted yes on whether to bar fraternity members from holding a position in the USC, STAND UP’s slate voted otherwise. STAND UP cited in its SPOA, though, that it would campaign for additional support for the Office of Student Ethics, the creation of an Anti-FRV Desk, and the constitution of clear policies for due process in handling and penalizing FRV cases.
Last year, after the pandemic threw the USC into disarray, with many of its officials filing for resignation, FRV once again factored into the discussions. Tierone Santos, a Sigma Rho fraternity member who ran under STAND UP in the last election, was able to retain his post as the USC Students’ Rights and Welfare Councilor despite the students’ calls for his resignation after he was implicated in an FRV controversy. Critics have found it distasteful that he remains involved in campaigns for this year’s election as the student body’s campaign to abolish fraternities continues to gain steam.
“Ang pag-form ng campaign team ng buong STAND UP ay based sa merits at kakayahang umambag sa ating kampanya,” Dolores said during UPFront. “More than that, we want to uphold the integrity of the USC by demanding accountability through upholding the due process and the right to due process of every individual.”
The party was also recently compelled to speak up after statements regarding missing USC funds amounting to around P280,000 was brought to students’ attention. Since 2019, former Technology Management Center Representative to the USC and Finance Committee Head Tobey Rabino, who had run under STAND UP, went AWOL with said funds.
Dolores was quoted saying there were no missing funds, during the Engineering Alliance of Student Leaders Grilling 2021, adding that the party had filed a report against Rabino. Former USC Councilor Hernan Delizo questioned Dolores, saying “only a report to the OVCSA, and not a formal complaint to OSE, was filed. Yet why did STAND UP candidates say otherwise?”
Dolores clarified in a tweet that they were certain that the missing USC funds were with Rabino, against whom they had filed a case, under the leadership of Kenneth Eser Jose, who chaired the USC in a holdover capacity.
It was only on June 10 that Rabino reached out to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (VCSA) Louise Jashil Sonido and USC Vice Chairperson Richard Pagaduan to settle the matter. Sonido had advised the USC, in September 2020, to exhaust and document all efforts to communicate with Rabino.
“Although hindi siya maituturing talaga na formal administrative case, ito yung pinanghahawakan na complaint dahil nabanggit din naman dito na handa yung council na i-escalate ito into whatever appropriate offices necessary, including legal actions, kung ma-push ng situation and kung yun yung maa-advise ng OVCSA bilang adviser ng council,” USC Chairperson Froilan Cariaga told the Collegian. The council was also asked to send correspondence straight to Rabino’s residence as part of the procedure before the OVCSA could act on the complaint, Pagaduan said.
Rabino’s statement dated June 12, which the USC shared with the Collegian, noted that he did not move out until May last year from his place near campus, which Rabino said was “very much known to the USC.” “There was no attempt to abscond [with] or steal the funds,” he wrote in the letter. “It was my own decision not to respond to texts, calls, and Facebook messages, and it has nothing to do with either STAND UP or the USC.”
It remains to be seen whether the actions of one errant member of the party would sully its reputation and cost it wins at the ballots. Calls for accountability will not end with just the election. Instead, they will continue to hound STAND UP, whose promises to the student body should understandably carry over to whoever among its slate will ascend to the USC. It is a challenge for them to show that they will stand for the good of the community and not deviate from the kind of principled unity they have been holding fast to for the longest time. ●
*Not her real name. The source was granted anonymity, on her request, for privacy concerns. The Collegian will also publish a separate report on the issue of the USC’s missing funds.
