Favorable results for the oranges

This entry was last updated at 14.18 on 15 March 2008.

Tapat has retained the Student Council presidency as Nicole Villarojo wins against Santugon’s Agnes de Castro. The oranges have regained the operations vice president position as Gretch Santos wins against Christine Lacson. The executive board, however, remains at 5-1, with Aimee Chua grabbing the academics vice president position from Tapat’s Anil Ratanchandani.

Tapat keeps its hold on the other Student Council positions, with Inah Garcia defeating Sarah Santos, Chichi Tullao defeating Jessa Reña, and Greggy Chua defeating second-time candidate Nadia Ong.

Lights off on the elections

Somewhere before three in the afternoon, I went out of the radio lab, went down to the Miguel Walk, and started to walk stridently towards the polling area for the CLA and COE. In my head, it was supposedly picture perfect – until Tapat’s Monica Escalona asked me if I have voted.

After two weeks of following people around and trying to think with school requirements lurking, I have finally placed my vote. The feeling of having people ask you that question for the past three days has been akin to stress, but you really couldn’t blame them, as turnout was low, at least in the CLA, for the first two days. Thankfully, with around five hours before polls closed today, the announcement was made: half of FAST 2005 had voted. Applause from both parties’ CLA candidates surrounded the voting area.

The sheer number of party colors today led me to call the area between Miguel and Velasco a “house party,” with the idea that everybody will break out into song in celebration of the moment the polls officially close. With the assurance that an extension won’t happen, it seems they’ll just clap their hands thinking that they could finally sleep.

It will soon be over, but…

Indeed, the busy schedule that I pointed out in the first entries for this year’s coverage has really reared its ugly head, which explains the lack of entries for the past two days. In those days, aside from trying to get things done, I was also trying to, finally, decide who to vote for.

It has taken so long, isn’t it? I’ve been talking to party candidates and supporters who have been watching the polls for the past two days, and I’ve somehow found the questions on whether I should vote repetitive. I’ve always said I’m voting today – because I really haven’t made a decision on crucial slots in the executive board – yet people keep on asking me to vote. My candidate-friends, even, have been (jokingly, I believe) dragging me to the voting area, but with no luck.

It’s somewhat ironic, really. The way the campaign has gone, the people that are supposed to fully understand the issues being presented by both campaigns are not going to vote. As of yesterday, turnout for students of FAST 2005 – the CLA’s junior batch, which I am part of – has been hovering at around 30%. With thesis deadlines for some departments already set for today, it doesn’t seem to be going up any sooner, unless we see a surge today. And I haven’t seen the younger batches vote, or I just wasn’t there to see it.

How many more letters will we read?

“The reaction was pretty mixed,” suddenly prominent Santugon candidate Mia Jimenez told me this afternoon. “People from other batches were asking me questions.”

Her open letter, which was assiduously circulated over the weekend, has made her some sort of celebrity. Some might see her as a symbol of courage, of one candidate who decided to speak up about a consistently controversial – and confusing – aspect of the everyday musings of the Student Council. Others might see her as a candidate from, bluntly, a political underdog who’s desperate to win.

“Around three,” she answered, when I asked her about the number of people that asked her about the letter. “From what batches, I don’t know.”

This (online) battle is complicated

Obviously the weekend wouldn’t give the candidates a break. Campaigning continued on Saturday, with the candidates talking to the frosh who are attending their NSTP classes. My sister, who has been a similarly keen election observer, has finally received a copy of the Tapat GPOA after waiting for the past week. Some minds were still being convinced, especially in light of the previous day’s miting de avance and open forum. Inevitably the results were given the spin treatment.

But another part of the campaign has been waged online – through mailing lists and blog entries, from candidates, former candidates and party supporters. As the students awaited a summary of what has been said during the miting de avance, emails started going around, trying to convince students about their cause, one more time.

And what makes this interesting is that these are, in my opinion at least, written outside what the campaign warrants. These listings play on the advantage that these are more personal and more heartfelt – something they hope the students would see, beyond the usual complaints that the prescribed campaign techniques are robotic.