Besting the typical colors within the council, the independent candidate Stacy Danielle Alamares recently won the University Student Council (USC) race with her #BUShine banner. Days after the election concluded, the call for accountability on their promises begins.
It has been years since an independent candidate triumphed in the USC race. As the Bicol University (BU) student body has made its final and irrevocable decision on selecting the next roster of council leaders, the pressure is put forth for them not to turn back on their words, especially now that there are surging issues with regard to the student-leaders that is yet to formally take the seat in the council.
This coming academic year, as members of the student body, it is critical for students to hold the newly-elected USC chairperson, Stacy Daniel Alamares, as well as the other officers, for the promises that they made as they ran for their positions.
With the incumbent council failing to conduct the university-wide LITVIMUSDA, lack of GLA meetings, and other issues that they were not able to address, Alamares' term will bear the heavier responsibility of catering to these concerns in their upcoming term.
Meanwhile, there was a recent issue wherein multiple screenshots circulated online revealing how former members of LLR-Reporma Coalition downplay the persisting red-tagging cases in the university. This brings to light how much the political colors create the divide and eventually cause conflicts within the council.
With the new term soon to take office with an independent candidate leading it, along with six officers from the LLR-Reporma and three from BU Leaders, the challenge of how to genuinely put a council who stands as one is posed.
Moreover, as evidenced by the aforementioned issues that are still circulating within the BU community, the student body should suspend their public trust if these involved elected student leaders continue to dismiss past issues.
As the sole representation of BUeños in the Board of Regents, the chairperson must first ensure that her term begins with utmost credibility to prove she is worth the thousand votes that grounded her as the leader, also ensuring that her co-officers will work in harmony no matter what color or political banner they ran under.
With this, the new USC Chairperson Ms. Stacy Daniel Alamares should be urged to immediately address and provide full transparency on the concerns raised by the students before taking appropriate steps to curtail improper practices inside the council.
The student body must hold these officers accountable and be critical of their actions as they are voted into office for and by the students, and the students can easily protest them out of their respective positions if situations permit.
After all, while the win of an independent candidate as chairperson in the BU-USC is not a standard event, this incoming term should not be deemed special and should be critically scrutinized.
In this term of pink, may BUeños not be pushed to the brink.
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