SPECIAL WALLNEWS EDITION

OPISYAL NA BALITANG PADER NG THE BICOL UNIVERSITARIAN Volume XXXIX Bicol University February 2011
MEMBER: College Editors Guild of the Philippines(CEGP)

FAIRNESS.ACCURACY.GENUINE STUDENT SERVICE

MAGBASA. MAGDANGOG. MAKIARAM. BUNGKARAS BUeos!

a nuance of colors

Flores is new student regent 5 apparent wins for each party

AFTER
FOUR YEARS OF BEING UNABLE TO secure the topmost position in the University Student Council (USC), the Bicol University League of Democrats (BU Leaders) produced this years newly-elected Chairperson. Ruther Flores from the College of Education (CE) leads this years set of officers with a 3, 544 vote advantage over Mark Ian Garbo, standard bearer of the League of Liberal Reformists-Reporma (LLR-Reporma) Coalition. In an interview concucted immediately after the quick count, Flores said he plans to utilize three major functions and put more emphasis on elected officers rather than appointed ones because they are the ones containing the real trust of the studentry. He said that the Council should serve as an activity, a service and a campaign center and systematize everything that every committee will contain the most capable people regardless of whether they are chosen by the students. Aside from the highest positions in the council, BU Leaders also leads the positions for Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, Business Manager and Public Information Officer. LLR-Reporma, on the other hand, leads the seats for Internal Vice Chairperson, External Vice Chairperson, Finance Officer, Deputy Finance Officer and Auditor. lenge by the newly-elected chairperson as to how good he can manage the different views of the council under his term. Ill be open and transparent to them. I will also tell them that if they really want to serve, regardless of whom they will work with, they will have to adjust. Thereupon, the so called political hang-over will disappear in due time, Flores stated. Challenges ahead Despite detractors doubt regarding their credibility as leaders, the new set of USC Officers, Flores said, may start from scratch, since none of them had an experience in handling the universitys umbrella organization. However, he does not treat this as one of the problems that his administration would face. According to him, there are bigger problems. First, there are still colleges that Reporma dominates. This means that they may not agree on the things that he will be proposing. Second is the inability of other student leaders to listen and that some tend to react prematurely without bothering to listen why the council wants something to happen. Third is the political hangover, since five elected officers came from Reporma. However, Garbo said that those who won from Reporma would continue to carry with them the principles of the party; the elected officers from their league are willing to work Just fight with the BU Leaders officers. With the seats for internal vice chairperNevertheless, Flores is optimistic that son, external vice chairperson, finance officer, they would be able to solve these problems deputy finance officer and auditor won by Re- and other dilemmas that will arise. porma, Flores did not consider that Reporma lost in this years election. Garbo as a part of Flores administration According to Garbo, Repoma is always Flores admitted that he told Ann Marthankful for the usual support the students garette Ajero, the Prime Minister of Reporma, show in every election. He added that they are that he is willing to make Garbo as one of the confident that having five seats in the council appointed officers of the University Student will make the principles of Reporma continue Council through the executive committee that to reverberate. handles everything. The new set of officers is taken as a chalGarbo would be one of the members, if
By Alyssa Joselle Baares and Patricia Miguel

HARAPAN wave hits BU two days before the USC election. PHOTO BY BOYBI LICUP

HARAPAN 2011
ITS
GREEN VERSUS YELLOW. Two days before the election, the spirit of the Valentine season was camouflaged by the cheers of BU students for their bets for the University Student Council (USC) elections. Instead of having a post-valentine date, many students opted to witness HARAPAN, a university-wide debate forum between the aspirants of the League of Liberal Reformists (LLR-Reporma) Coalition and the Bicol University League of Democrats (BU Leaders) as they delivered punches of speech to wow the crowd. Both ladies and gents had objects with shade of green and yellow to show which party or candidate they support. LLR_Reporma and BU leaders had green and yellow campaign colors respectively. Grand face off Mark Ian Garbo, standard bearer of LLR Reporma, and Ruther Flores of BU Leaders, together with their party mates, was under the spotlight as they answered most of the queries as set in the debate forums four-part guidelines. During the opening round, The Bicol Universitarian laid situations and issues which were associated to admin-student relationships. Both parties were given a chance to deliberate before the running chairpersons give their argument to address that certain issues. Students from the audience area were allowed to raise their own queries during the conditioning round. Various questions were raised from the audience causing louder cheers and mixed reactions. Afterwards, the PRESSing round was participated by the different college publications. Side clash Minutes after the debate forum ended, a confrontation between Amira Manginsay, CALCSC President aspirant and Flores sprouted. Manginsay protested on Flores claims regarding decentralization of CSC funds as an answer to the current USC and CSCs predicament on delayed release of funds. In a separate interview, Manginsay said that Flores does not know anything regarding how funds are being appropriated to each college student council. Flores meanwhile defended that if given the chance to know how the funds are being appropriated, he would do the best that he could to help. Annual anticipation Because of the massive participation manifested during this years HARAPAN, more students in BU are looking forward for the regular conduct of the said debate forum. Francia Vasquez, BS Electronics student from the College of Industrial Technology said that HARAPAN enabled a closer look to the identity of aspiring USC officers and more awareness was generated regarding each partys platforms and projects for the studentry. Prof. Expedito Lobetania from the College of Education (CE) meanwhile commented that next year, more BU faculty should also be encouraged to witness HARAPAN and the organizers should find a more conducive venue for the forum. HARAPAN - a sequel HARAPAN is an annual event organized by The Bicol Universitarian in line with the USC elections. It aims to gather the students in BU and have a critical assessment of each USC aspirants
(Sheena Ferrer and Gerard Francis Ogad)

not, the second head of the committee. Flores said that this motion aims to utilize his expertise, to share his insights, and to merge, not the parties, but to merge and unify the intentions of the parties. Garbo said that he appreciates Flores invitation and according to him, he would do the same had he won. I am always open to the idea of joining the USC family and I love rendering service to students. But I thought after the election, maybe its time for me to focus on my studies and do productive things for myself, he added. On the other hand, Gino Rabino of BU Leaders believes that the triumph of Flores means a new start, a new era and a new stage for BU Leaders. He also said that having Flores as the Chairperson, the good relation between the University Student Council and the students will be revived as well as the former structure of the USC to make the CSCs more efficient. This election broke Repormas three-year domination and leaves a great responsibility to the elected officers, especially the BU Leaders that they need to prove to the student body that they deserve their trust. Professor Expedito Lobetania, alumnus of BU Leaders, challenged the elected USC officers to walk their talk. For the first time, a college, more over a satellite campus, conducted an automated election. BU Tabaco Campus (TC) canvassing ended at 5 pm, just two hours after the closing of precincts. However, despite this innovation in the voting process, TC failed to give the voters report from the campus last night. At the moment, data from only 6 out of 10 precincts was accessed by The Bicol Universitarian.

*based from THE BICOL UNIVERSITARIANs partial unofficial quick count from the 13 colleges of Bicol University

New leaders
EDITORIAL

AFTER

CHAIRPERSON IPESR CAL GARBO, Mark Ian 73 330 FLORES, Ruther 150 869 INTERNAL VICE CHAIRPERSON CARMONA, Jayson 107 616 MANJARES, Michael Leo 102 466 EXTERNAL VICE CHAIRPERSON SANTOS, Patrixia Sherly 77 655 AUSTRIA, Casey Anne 126 474 SECRETARY GENERAL SAMANTELA, Maria Sienna 97 447 ANTIQUIERA, Christian 115 573 DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL ALMENIANA, Blossom 71 417 NIEVA, Neren 131 667 FINANCE OFFICER LLABORE, Carmel Joy 107 522 HONDANERO, Bianca Rizzi 97 482 DEPUTY FINANCE OFFICER RAMIREZ, Jonar Jake 108 594 OANZON, Jennelyn 89 373 AUDITOR ARANA, Noel 97 566 BORAGAY, Sheikha 100 418 BUSINESS MANAGER RAMOS, Richard 82 424 LIM, Mark Harris 121 615 PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER OROZCO, Siviorjah 93 620 BAARES, Jay Vangil 112 444

TOTAL 319 166 201 494 228 901 506 233 161 190 987 4789 570 366 1630 1177 636 602 430 292 292 361 958 8333
CS CN CE CBEM CSSP CENG CIT CAF GC TC* PC

386 291 656 693 339 717 582 263 212 213 1113 6188 382 197 933 981 381 467 292 224 201 311 627 5564 390 303 539 890 312 792 559 239 179 159 1144 6238 407 211 1072 669 430 476 323 238 229 368 540 5563 336 224 320 653 269 677 581 238 161 183 974 5160 399 234 1408 794 406 413 270 224 232 298 671 6037 368 349 457 593 112 693 515 198 162 146 917 4998 403 173 1061 889 726 503 352 265 239 354 714 6477 420 263 492 732 324 734 581 234 176 160 1026 5771 338 206 983 853 350 452 281 212 215 347 571 5387 251 407 646 818 319 600 507 248 177 246 1091 6012 515 104 826 618 317 434 327 190 213 242 500 4748 641 298 546 733 299 489 494 214 208 210 987 5782 193 176 848 694 346 722 348 231 182 300 598 5156 311 270 445 676 279 624 774 189 165 192 791 5222 404 198 917 738 382 420 135 267 224 310 848 5579 342 211 265 645 211 759 604 257 172 215 975 5369 374 254 1359 805 452 384 259 216 221 293 607 5780

www.unibeonline.com

The Bicol Universitarian Editorial Board and Staff AY 2010-2011.

alta THE BICOL UNIVERSITARIAN HOLDS ITS OFFICE AT THE 2ND FLOOR, CAL BLDG. BU MAIN CAMPUS.

layout by Mikhail Chavez

Editor in Chief Sarah B. Moran, Associate Editor Jyrevi Mae Fernandez Managing Editor Tamar C. Antonio Senior Editor Arlene Joy P. Derilo Online Content Editor Nico P. Arboleda Graphics Editor Mikhail D. Chavez Writers Gerard Ogad, Alyssa Baares, Amabelle Loremia, Sheena Ferrer, Jovic Yee, Reynard Magtoto, Michael Gallego, Patricia Miguel, Cartoonists, Raul Diaz Jr., Lou Xavier Lauraya, Nick Mangampo Jr., Jonathan Papasin, Arvill Villamor, Layout Artist Giovan Ballatan Photojournalist Francis Licup Public Relations Staff Mark Aniel, Sushmita Balindan, Ivy Cascante, Vevie Galemba, Jessa Jarilla, Technical Adviser Felipe Jose Per-

THREE STRAIGHT years of League of Liberal Reformists-Reporma (LLR-Reporma) Coalitions hold on the University Student Council (USC) chairperson seat, the Bicol University League of Democrats (BU Leaders) has claimed the post this year with the overwhelming victory of Ruther Flores, the first from the party since Expedito Lobetania in 2004. It may be a bittersweet victory for both parties with only half of each party making the new set of officers, yet a victory nevertheless owing to the overwhelming support from the student body. With that overwhelming support comes greater responsibilities on the part of the newly elected officers. They must always bear in mind that they will be facing public scrutiny along the way, no matter how well they submit themselves to their accountability- the studentry. In the recent wall news post of The Bicol Universitarian about the USC campaign, issues regarding the reliability of its articles were put into context. The publications neutrality was challenged with some claims, insisting that it favors one of the two existing colors in student governance. An air of negativity transpired in some of the candidates, thus challenging the publications credibility to establish a fair presentation of leadership. The bottom line is the publication was harangued with some complaints and intrigues that are far beyond the concept of rationality. Some of the USC aspirants do not know how to discern acceptable reasons from illogical ones, and some were even confined in their principles. It seems that they want the publication to defy its autonomy and bite on their platforms. Someone who claims himself to be a leader can never escape from the probing eyes of his constituents. When gauged, he must not take the circumstance negatively, he must learn from it. When praised, he must not be overwhelmed; he must be humbled and strive to be better. When criticized, he must not retaliate; instead he must evaluate himself and remedy his shortcomings. The winners have succeeded in notching their aspired posts, not to be pampered by the press, but be nudged whenever they become too comfortable in their seats. The campus press works not to demand for a faultless council, but we move to ensure that the hailed leaders commit themselves to their job.