SYP Elections: Batch 2019 Miting de Avance Transcript

The Science Scholar
Aug 26, 2017 · 15 min read

The Miting de Avance for Batch 2019 was held yesterday, August 25, at the third floor auditorium.

In case you want to catch up on something, below are the transcripts for the candidate Q&A, presidential debate, and open forum.

Candidate Q&A

Vice President

What do you think your batch has to offer to the school community? How will you help make the batch relevant?

Megan Gozum (LAHI):

After working with the batch council for the past two years, I’m proud to say that I know three things about the batch. First, we’re really creative. So you asked me what the batch has to offer, I believe our batch has a lot of diverse talents, those who are good at the arts, theatre, photography and the list goes on. I feel that from using previous proposals we’ve made, and also being able to do the outreaches we propose, we can spread that creativity throughout the batch [and] encourage our batch to be more proactive. Second, our batch is very talented in the sense [that] we can show it through sports and our smarts, to make the batch more relevant to the school community, we can begin to have talks for the lower batches and coordinating with the 2018. And finally, we’re service oriented.

Ralph Flores (UNLAD):

2019 is a batch burning with talent, we have musicians, creative writers, graphic designers and such. So I think that what we can do to make our batch relevant to this school is to introduce these talents to the other batches. This is what we’re doing with the SYP art gallery, allowing opening acts during the proposed year ender, and that’s what we’re doing with the sports league. I’d like to expand on the question and apart from being relevant in the school community, we should be relevant to the community outside the school. That’s why our main advocacy is the outreach and the gift drive. We are going to fulfill our duty as the iskolars ng bayan. We have our cool heads at the service of our warm hearts, as Samuelson said in his economics book.

Secretary

Secretaries would perhaps bear the grunt of administrative duties. What qualities would you have that would make you an excellent secretary?

Raffy Flandes (LAHI):

Well for me, serving really is a passion, and if it’s a passion, you know that you commit to pursuing it and involving yourself in that passion. The role in the council I know best is being the secretary, and I’ve had previous experience with this. I can really tell you now that my previous experiences and involving myself with all the projects and handling all the grunt work will give you a good service this year for all you guys, and I can assure you that you will not regret voting for me.

Mattie Balagat (UNLAD):

I believe the mark of an excellent secretary is a good communicator. As you know me, I have previous experience as a promotions officer, designer, and I’m a creative writer. And I believe good design is practice and communication, since you have to think around the needs of the audience. Taking it out of the artistic perspective, I believe that I will be able to become a good communicator as I have practiced relaying my ideas and this, combined with my dedication and craft and previous leadership experience, will make me a good secretary.

Treasurer

The batch council deals a lot with the parents and the administration over financial matters. What do you think should be the role of parents and the administration with regard to your batch’s funds?

Edric Uy (LAHI):

Last year, Sir Nat [Tacuboy, the DSA Chief] said that the students should be the ones in charge of everything and have to learn how to be independent, and I think that’s what we should do. We should be more independent with our funds. The parents and the administration, I believe, should have a lesser role, not necessarily out the picture but definitely lesser. I think we should try to improve our own self batchmade fundraisers, but I’m not saying we should completely remove the focus from the parents. But we should put emphasis on our abilities to make funds instead of relying on the parents and the administration.

Nathan Solomon (UNLAD):

We cannot deny that the parents and the admin are vital to the funds of our batch. This is because our money is with the parents and the admin decides which activities we get to have. Their role now should be less because we are now in our SYP years and we can handle our funds better, and I believe that I am capable and passionate to do that for you. We should develop more independence now since some of us are already adults. I would just like to say that if you vote for me, the parents and the [administration] will always be coordinated with, and that there will be little to no problems addressing their concerns and issues, and that we will always update them what we need.

Auditor

Mismanagement of funds is a sign of weakness in an administration, how do you think your batch should allocate the funds you have?

Cody Baizas (LAHI):

In our batch, we have a lot of projects we want to have funding for, so as a batch we need to manage them wisely. So we’re going to be coming up with our proposals and we’re going to be allocating our funds mainly for the major projects such as prom, and the spiritual programs or the outreaches. And of course, so that the batch will have our approval, we will be releasing all our budget plans and [will be uploading them] in a Google Drive so everyone has a say and everyone will get to see if we’re doing the right thing.

Danela Dagdag (UNLAD):

I believe that mismanagement of funds shows signs of weakness in an administration, so my party and I believe that the key to a good officer is a good work ethic. This means that you have to plan your projects well and all your future plans should be detailed and concise so you know where exactly all the funds will go.

Presidential Debate

Question for UNLAD

Many find the idea of a unified party system in Pisay pointless, how will you then defend the existence and purpose of your party?

UNLAD: The unified party system, I think, is not at all pointless. Because if we are all united, or at least most of us, to an extent we will all be working together; and together we will accomplish much more than if we were working individually. As they say, something about together we are strong and divided we are weak, that jazz. That being said, the unified party system is not pointless, it isn’t.

LAHI (rebuttal): LAHI does not believe there is a need for a unified party system throughout the entire school. As a batch council, we should focus on the batch and the new SYP system. Especially since different batches have different activities, batch councils should be tailored towards their respective batches.

UNLAD (rebuttal): There may be no need for a unified party system, but we can very much benefit [from it]. More people will be working together in close communication with each other if we have the unified party system. That is why I think the unified party system is not pointless, but it is a very much big help to projects and all that jazz because [of] manpower. Together we are strong, divided we are weak.

Question for LAHI

If the majority of your party wins, you will be working with a majority UNLAD Student Council. How do you think you’ll be able to work out your differences?

LAHI: LAHI has very similar plans with UNLAD, and we want to involve you guys. And even if only one [member of] the party wins, we will still be working together with you under our system or with us in the cabinet. I believe that service does not end after elections.

UNLAD (rebuttal): Yes, you will be working with majority of UNLAD’s party, but we have all been running together because we have that chemistry that we need to work well with each other. And working together will be much easier because of how we built everything from the bottom-up. It’s going to be much easier for us and our people.

LAHI (rebuttal): Chemistry can be built upon same ideas and principles, and as I’ve mentioned earlier, we have similar ideas. And since we’re working with the 2018 batch council for the house system, there would be at least two UNLAD officers in the house system so there would definitely be a need to work together.

Question for UNLAD

Let us assume you sweep the elections this year. What if next year’s batch council is not a majority UNLAD council? Or what if UNLAD does not persist? How do you ensure that the spirit of a unified party system in Pisay and all its promised merits will be sustained?

UNLAD: Though we may not be the same next year and the people are gone, the charter will still exist. I believe that the current members of the UNLAD party are going to continue because we all stand for the advocacies UNLAD stands for. When something is made, I don’t think it will die out when the original people who made it aren’t there anymore. We find people to take over for the community we leave behind.

LAHI (rebuttal): Earlier you said there is a need for a unified party system, what if the needs of the batch changes next year? How will your ideas fit in?

UNLAD (rebuttal): The unified party system is not a need, it’s very beneficiary for everyone. And since it’s more beneficial than it is a necessity. Again, being in the council itself is not the spirit of a unified party system, it’s the people that already exist that make it better.

Question for LAHI

Since you are not under a unified house party system like UNLAD, there is a chance that your platforms will not survive past your term. How will you deal with this potential problem?

LAHI: Earlier, we said that LAHI’s plans are built upon you and all your priorities for this year. There is no need for a unified party system since next year your needs might change. Just to add to what we’ve said earlier, we’ve linked with the 2018 batch council candidates so that the transitions in SYP this school year will be easier and yes, it is tailored to the batch’s needs.

UNLAD (rebuttal): I’m a firm believer that LAHI’s programs are indeed very similar to ours but we have some very small differences. But the thing is, we’ve already talked about our stuff and we have much more in the works, so if your projects don’t push through, the idea will come along.

LAHI (rebuttal): Part of LAHI’s projects is to establish projects for the next school year like the yearbook and [graduation] ball committee. And along those lines maybe we can make a new party from those committees that is tailored for the needs of the batch next year.

Open Forum

Question

Sa UNLAD, kasi nabanggit na you have the chemistry to work together, tapos yung mga sinasabi mo ay yung UNLAD lang ang makakagawa. Pano kung hindi lahat ng UNLAD ang manalo? Magma-malfunction ba kayo?

Billie Fajardo (UNLAD): That’s a very good question sir, when a machine is very well-tuned, removing one of the pieces does not exactly destroy the machine. There may be a few hiccups every now and then. Pero I believe that we will not fall apart. We will just not work as well initially. [But] in the long run, because at the end of the day when this election is over, we are always just one batch and after the election there would be one batch council. And no matter who’s there and no matter how bad the start is we will eventually work together, all together.

Question

This question is for UNLAD once again. So both presidents agree on the idea that both you guys have similar ideas for the council. If you guys have the same goals for the student body, what is the use of a unified-party system if both parties have the same goals for the batch?

Ralph Flores (UNLAD): We understand the sentiment na it seems exclusive because this is the first actual party in Pisay. The benefit we can offer the batch and student body is persistency talaga. I think [that] even if the student body does not vote for us, our plans will continue to exist. So give us a chance to execute our plans, and if not, it can be picked up by other batches. So persistence, and hopefully, a lasting legacy in Pisay.

Question:

My question is regarding the time that you guys say you will maximize to ensure that all the plans are implemented. But you can only involve people so much and it will require sacrificing some of your goals. How will you cope with that situation and where do you think you should place the effort of the batch to ensure that said effort and resources will be maximized?

Ralph Flores (UNLAD): Given the limited amount of time and our party’s extensive platform, I think we will have to focus on our systems first. Because establishing a batch cabinet will make forming committees easier. But after that our SCALE activities will be priority such as the SYP sports league, SYP art gallery, etc. Because from 2018’s experience, it was difficult to find SCALEable activities. To make it easier for the batch we’re going to focus on the activities designed for SCALE.

Question

For both presidential candidates, so you talked about addressing the needs of the batch. This year, what do you think is the biggest need of our batch and how is your approach more effective and suitable?

Jammy Macapanpan (LAHI): LAHI believes that the need of this batch is SCALE mostly, so we want to help you guys with your SCALE accomplishments, by involving with you with the batch projects because this can be involved with leadership.

Billie Fajardo (UNLAD): I also agree with [the LAHI President], because this is the second year that SCALE has been implemented and it hasn’t been easy especially for the upper year. But this school year we can make it better and easier, SCALE is sort of an on-the-side thing and if you ignore it, it can bite you on the side.

Question

Hi LAHI, I’m confused from the debate because you reiterated there is no necessity and it is not beneficial to have a unified party system, so why did you affiliate or partner up with 2018?

Cody Baizas (LAHI): In LAHI we have a platform that is LINK, [which] doesn’t necessarily mean that we are one with them. It just means we are connected to them. Different batches have different needs. When we were coordinating with LIT, there were some platforms that we didn’t want to adopt. Take for example, we wanted to have a lot of feedback because we know [that] in this batch a lot of people have things to say. But that has been a problem for 2018 in their attempt at feedback forms. So as much as we want to be transparent, we’ve decided to make all our plans accessible, [by having] open spreadsheets, open documents, but they didn’t want to adopt it. So we’re working as separate identities but we have a connection because we work together in the SYP system. We need to know how to work with each other while remaining separate batches.

Question

For LAHI, you said that you will have a system for committees to make sure that the batch can participate more and organize our own events. I want to know how you plan to manage this system, and how will you monitor the people in the committees and how will you ensure they’ll do their job?

Megan Gozum (LAHI): Okay so, for the committee system we already have guidelines made. To be in the committees, all you need to have is good [academic] standing and of course, the passion and initiative to join. Each student may only be in two committees, so every student can have a chance. In terms of organizing and making sure everything runs fine, we act as a bridge from the [administration] to the students, making sure each of us is a representative to manage the students whenever needed. We’ve also partnered with 2018 on this concept to help us out and make it more efficient.

Question

For unlad, kung nagppromote kayo ng transparency, pwede niyo bang ikwento sa amin kung paano na-form yung party niyo? Kasi diba lahat gusto niyong sabihin sa amin?

Billie Fajardo (UNLAD): If it’s okay, I can only start with when I got invited. Kasi di ako sure from before that. Once upon a time, pumunta akong National Museum of the Philippines, and the day before that I got messaged if I hypothetically, theoretically, had any interest in running for batch office, to which I responded “sige, go”. And I didn’t know if they were taking it seriously, pero you know, they did. And after that, I learned that meron na palang others na natanong. So with my very small pool of people, I started to ask myself who do I think can also be batch council officers. So I sent a list of people to be screened by people that were already in the batch council party. So the big joint and unified Unlad party screened it already, and if there were conflicts, we either wouldn’t ask at all or if the people inside think that they’re legit talaga, they would defend them and papasok sila sa party.

Follow up: So yung initiative, hindi nanggaling sa’yo?

Ralph Flores (LAHI): Hey! Okay so you asked a question. So I’d like to say that say na, you know, that comes off a bit as towing the line when it comes to asking about the ideas of the party. And I’m not very sure what the motivation behind the question is. Pero, to address your first question about transparency, it’s more of when we’re in the council already. If you read our GPOA, we’re going to utilize the social media accounts and the pshs.edu.ph emails to show our financial and other records.

Follow up: So yung basis ng GPOA niyo galing saan?

Ralph Flores (UNLAD): The basis of the GPOA is based on our former advocacies already.

Follow up: Because from what I know, UNLAD already has a GPOA. So hindi yun based sa sinasabi ng batch, your GPOA was already formed before you formed the party.

Ralph Flores (UNLAD): So you’re asking if it’s not specialized, it’s understandable. So the advocacies already existed before our batch, pero the thing is the GPOA is just there to show you what we’re planning to go for. That specific plans of action were done to uphold our advocacies and we’re just trying to address the batch’s problems.

Question

Sa tingin niyo ba, kapag binoto kayo, kailangan pa rin kayo ng batch? Kasi kung tutuusin, lahat ng activities niyo ay SCALE-able na by anybody. And don’t you think a group of people handling an individual’s SCALE ay makakasagabal sa kaniyang progress sa project?

Edric Uy (LAHI): So, what we’re doing is we’re giving the batch a way to have SCALE, because it’s not easy to think of a SCALE nga. We’re also doing projects that the batch needs, so we’re giving the batch an opportunity para makagawa ng SCALE, through those projects that they need, otherwise parang sayang yung opportunity. Because it’s their need, it means sayang naman yung opportunity to SCALE it. That’s why we’re giving a batch an opportunity to SCALE the activities.

Nathan Solomon (UNLAD): So for the question kung kailangan pa kami ng batch after we’re elected, I think yes. It’s because we’re not running just for executing our programs na SCALE-able. We’re still doing our purpose as a batch council kasi hindi ba we voted to still keep the batch council. For SCALE it’s possible that anyone can do this, but we’re trying to provide an easier way to execute your SCALE. And we can be the facilitators naman, we’re just the ones giving the opportunity. If you want to join us you’re free to, and we will help you in any way that we can. But we can’t guarantee naman that everyone can join in but what we want is we can facilitate that if it’s in your interests we can work it on a bigger scale, pun not intended. Personally, I think that I’m ready naman. And since part of our GPOA is that you can approach us, if you have any more concerns you can always talk to us. We can always resolve this through talks like this and sana, once na-elect na yung batch council, through more batch congresses and the like.

Question

To UNLAD, you guys have a unified party of two batches, so kung nagkaroon ng conflict between a 2018 and 2019 student, like seryoso na conflict, like say, they try to beat each other up or something. Are you willing to fight for the 2019 student or [would you go] against your own batch? And to LAHI, you don’t have the power of a unified party like UNLAD does, so if magkakaroon ng conflict between, say, upper management and a 2019 student, are you going to, you know, go against the upper man kahit na, you know, you’re one council? For example, nagka-DO (Discipline Office) case and the student needs a representative and he wants someone from the batch council.

Billie Fajardo (UNLAD): Your example was a student from 2019 and 2018 beat each other up, so I think it’s in our responsibilities as student leaders to defend the person who was in the right, who was being wronged. It must begin properly to help the batch, to help the DO in any way they want us to. Pero, ultimately, it’s not in our scope. The only thing we can do to help is, you know, reduce more conflict by introducing more activities through camaraderie like our SYP-oriented activities. Thank you.

Raffy Flandes (LAHI): Of course, we should be siding on the side of who’s in the right. Of course, we want to be able to support the 2019 person even if he’s in the wrong or he’s in the right, but we should work with the D. O. and represent the 2019 person properly in the wrong or in the right.

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The Science Scholar

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