This academic year’s UP Diliman (UPD) University Student Council (USC) faced many exceptional burdens. It had to respond to the shift to in-person classes, withstand the first few state-sanctioned attacks on academic freedom in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term, and confront the disputed selections of the UP president and UPD chancellor.

Some praise is due this year’s USC for traversing this unique set of circumstances. The urgency of these issues necessitates that the council be evaluated by their principal objective: to rally the studentry to “look after the unity and welfare of … the people.”

On this principle, however, the council closes its term with a footprint of lackluster performance. As issues like substandard sectoral outreach, lethargic internal work ethic, and one of the biggest challenges to the integrity and inclusivity of the UP Fair in recent memory abounded, the student movement that could have faced up to this year’s problems diminished in vigor.

Measuring Representation

A pivotal yardstick of USC’s success is its ability to safeguard students’ welfare. However, as they exit their posts, they leave the student population with a number of its needs unmet.

The protection of students’ rights was the USC’s clarion call during their candidacy under the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND UP). The USC, in collaboration with Rise For Education-UP Diliman crafted a position paper for the Ligtas na Balik Eskwela campaign, which called for expanded student services. While not all pressing calls were realized, such as the retention of the 12-unit minimum load, the USC was able to extract commitment from the administration that dormitories would be opened in their full capacity by the second semester.

Students’ welfare kept a crucial place in the appointments of the UP president and UPD chancellor. In line with this, the council crafted and forwarded two versions of the Diliman Student Agenda (DSA), a masterlist of student demands, to the nominees of both selections. All nominees for chancellor signed the 2023 DSA. The 2022 DSA, however, was publicized only 11 days before the UP president selection, and of the six presidential nominees, only Fidel Nemenzo, Benito Pacheco, and Patrick Azanza signed the DSA.

Kjoy Adriano, outgoing councilor and head of the Student Rights and Welfare (STRAW) Committee, which was charged with writing the DSA, recounted that the USC’s consultations with students like athletes and dormers were at times sluggishly conducted for both iterations of the DSA.

Likewise, the council also published their endorsement of former Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo a mere 10 days before the BOR selected the next UP president. The seeming tardiness behind the campaign for a pro-student president greatly hampered its reach. 

“I don’t think they were able to [broadcast this campaign effectively] face to face … Personally, a lot of my classmates ay di rin masyadong updated because they don’t follow them on social media,” Sam Quigao, a first-year student from the College of Engineering, said.

A portion of the DSA contained the demands of Students with Additional Needs (SWANS). This is bolstered by the USC’s mental health portfolio comprising a consultation on existing mental health policies and continued lobbying for PWD-compliant spaces. 

However, Kiara Gorrospe, outgoing head of the SWANS Committee, mentioned that difficulties sprung up to circulate clear guidelines for SWANS ID applications, which gives SWANS privileges pertinent to their needs. SWANS felt the council’s lack of proactive measures to push the administration to respond to their needs sharply. To this day, the university still lacks a disability resource center, forcing SWANS to rely on public donation calls circulated by the council.

The push for safe spaces was also a hallmark of the USC’s electoral run. They carried over this campaign by calling for the full enforcement of policies like the Anti-Sexual Harassment Code within the university. However, in spite of plans by the Committee on Organizations, Fraternities, and Sororities to draft action steps to end fraternity-related violence (FRV), the council’s safe spaces agenda still lacked  accountability measures for Greek-lettered formations, which ultimately paved the way for these formations to bid in the UP Fair.

Despite Upsilon Sigma Phi’s history of unresolved FRV cases, they were granted night handler rights in the Fair. UP Sigma Rho, another such brotherhood with a record of FRV, was also allowed to bid. UP Fair co-heads Ron Medina and Aaliyah Pascual suggested the total removal of the bidding process in succeeding installments of the fair, and USC Chairperson Latrell Felix herself claimed accountability for Upsilon’s handlership. Yet amid these moves, it is unclear what concrete steps the council took against FRV, save for their communication with the Office of Student Ethics.

Sectoral Narratives

In their electoral bid, this year’s USC packaged themselves as leaders who would take an unyielding stand on matters brewing in the national consciousness and listen to the pleas of the community.

They were able to retain this zeal by uniting with the Makabayan Bloc in their bid to pass House Resolution 403, which pushed to reverse the UP System’s looming P2.5 billion budget cut, a slash that was later reduced to P128.4 million. The council also sponsored and held talks regarding the passage of Charter Change, published their own assessment of Marcos Jr.’s first 100 days as president, and worked with the UP Transport Group throughout the two-day nationwide transport strike, among other instances.

While the USC held educational discussions on national issues, mobilizations on-the-ground still saw fewer students. Quigao said she hoped to join protests like the jeepney strike, but did not see the opportunity to do so. “Wala ako masyadong nakikitang calls from USC na, ‘Guys, meet us here … We’ll take care of you if you want to support,’” she said.

Apart from this, the council also fell short in its sectoral affinity. Some of the most vigorous attempts to commercialize the university’s spaces were rolled out during the USC’s term, such as the construction of the Gyud Food Hub, a food market that stood in direct competition with the 70 campus vendors. Narry Hernandez, chairperson of the Samahang Manininda sa UP Campus, lamented that the USC’s efforts to reach them came too late, when all slots in the hall had already been taken by big-name food brands, leaving vendors relegated to the hall’s peripheries. 

“Hindi ko naman sinasabing hindi nila tinulungan ang mga manininda. Siguro hindi lang nagkaroon ng maayos na pagpaplano,” Hernandez said. 

The USC, of course, is not the main institution to blame. But, they had shortcomings in actively engaging and supporting UP-based vendors, despite them placing a premium on working closely with UP sectors.

A Dearth of Initiative

Last year, STAND UP swept the USC, claiming all of the council’s councilor and standard bearer posts. Yet, even as a body united by affiliation, the USC failed to compellingly purge its internal operations of its shortfalls.

Adriano attributes the delays in DSA consultations to “unresponsive and passive” officers who failed to exhaust the council’s avenues for communication. “Kapag may pumutok na, doon lang sila nagkakaroon ng opinion. And it’s not good kasi parang passive na lang [ang nagiging pagtugon sa mga isyu].”

This did not help what little the council had in manpower; the STRAW committee, originally consisting of four members, was reduced to three after a resignation. These withdrawals slowed down the USC's task completion, according to Adriano.

Standing committees also went about their work without concern for those of their counterparts, says Adriano. Committee-centrism is a longstanding issue of the USC, and Adriano believes that this led to imbalances in workload. She laments that the work of USC’s STRAW arm in particular became too heavy at one point. “Sunod-sunod noon yung educational campaigns: Ligtas na Balik Eskwela, tapos kapag may bagyo, call for suspension, reading break, et cetera.”

The offshoots of these problems do not only manifest internally–they have also brought about substandard information dissemination campaigns. In a general assembly, multiple councilors concurred that materials published for events like UP Pride and Peasant Month 2022 lacked sorely in reach.

There is much praise to be accorded to a council who dispatched its tasks even with the reality of a Marcos Jr. presidency foisted on them. Yet, it still stands that a USC who promised an animated student movement within and beyond the compass of the university simply could have done more. The newly elected USC inherits from their predecessors a student body anxious to be conferred the representation, accountability, and aid they were unable to extract in this academic year. ●