By Sepha Pagdanganan
Last December 1, 2020, the San Beda College Alabang – School of Law Election Commission (ELECOM) conducted the elections of new School of Law Government (SLG) officers. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the candidates, as well as the ELECOM, had no choice but to adapt to the ‘new normal’ and conduct the activities of the election season via online. ELECOM Chairperson John Benedict Lascuna relates: “It was not easy to hold the 2020-2021 elections because it was the first time we had an election online. But the Commission stands firmly to what we are capable of. We needed to protect the rights of the student body regarding their votes. We had to adjust schedules to make way for the holiday break, the deadlines, everything. We had to make sure there were no flying voters for the batch representatives, repeated votes, and other forms of cheating when it comes to online elections; that’s why we prepared rules/guidelines, backup data and proof that there would be no cheating in the recent election.” While the conduct of election was done fully online, it was not the first time for the ELECOM to use computers as polling machines so the transition was not that difficult.
In the end, members of the Ating Yugto Party emerged victorious. Asked about the campaign process in the ‘new normal’, Juan Carlo “JC” Santos, the newly-elected SLG President, says it was an event that needed intense preparation: “It took us months to formulate a campaign strategy given that we had constraints in terms of the medium that we’re going to use and I’m glad to say that it turned out well because our main goal really was not just to win but also to ensure a high turnout insofar as votes are concerned.” Internal Vice President Althea Suerte says that the campaign is a game of recognition: “[E]ven if we were campaigning mostly unopposed, we wanted to make sure that every student, as much as possible, knew who we were and would know what quality of work to expect from us based on the effort we put into our campaign.” On the other hand, Second Year Batch Representative Miguel Pangilinan worried that due to the lack of physical “face time” with voters, his prospective constituency might doubt his sincerity. “My worry was that I might not be able to reach people and show how serious I was about the elections,” says Pangilinan.
When asked how will they strategize to expand the opportunities outside SOL for the students despite the novelty of the current situation, External Vice President Patricia dela Rosa responds with a two-fold strategy: first is to “establish a good relationship with our alumni community” through the Alumni Relations Committee and second, develop “partnership with the small local business owners so as to help them during this time of pandemic”—which dela Rosa describes as “a chance to give back to the outside community”.
First Year Batch Representative Phin Mae Perez, acknowledges the challenges of being a freshman law student, especially through her perspective a new member of the SLG. “Adjusting to a new environment, in general, is already hard. Then there is the pressure of entering law school with such difficult circumstances. As the First Year Batch Representative, I really wanted to focus on this issue and hopeful[ly] help my batchmates [to] adjust and cope with this new environment,” Perez said.
The student leaders vowed to remain steadfast in doing better for the Bedan student body, the community that elected them to their current positions. “We’ll ensure that we will keep true to the platforms that we’ve proposed. We’ll always put the best interest of the student body first before anything else and we’ll make sure that throughout our term as officers that we will embody what it means to be a student in the Happiest Law School. We very much look forward to serving all of you,” Santos assured. Suerte offers the following assurance to the School of Law community: “We want to reassure the Bedan community that the effort we put into campaigning doesn’t just end there. There will be no complacency after this point, it will still be us giving our all in every project we bring forward to the students.”◾