ALYANSA is said to be defending the CSSPSC in their issue regarding the Student Regent issue. Could you clear this up?

Straight up, stating that the CSSPSC is "our CSSPSC" does not mean ownership, or implying that the entire Council is affiliated with ALYANSA. We just wanted to say that the Council is OUR Council, everyone's Council, regardless of which affiliation its members belong to. If this has caused some confusion, we apologize. We all don't want to get caught in wordplay that muddles real debate. 

With that settled, we go back to the CSSPSC's issue. Once more, we reiterate our major points that we raised in our previous comment:

1. The entire CSSPSC is NOT affiliated with ALYANSA.
2. Members affiliated with Buklod CSSP (an ALYANSA affiliate), who are incumbents in the CSSPSC, did get elected into office carrying their principles. Among these principles are the commitment to reform the CRSRS. This commitment was translated into action by pushing for amendments in order to improve the current CRSRS;
3. These amendments were pushed by the Council officers concerned through informal consultations, considering the logistical difficulties at the moment the decision was made.

While the current Council members involved did admit shortcomings in launching full-blown consultations regarding this issue, it does not depart from the fact that they submitted themselves to the process of the protest, and the ensuing hearing, no matter how painful it is. It can be said that they acted in accordance to their principles; now, as these principles were called into question, they became accountable as student leaders.

We reflect at this point. These same student leaders, who acted in accordance to their principles, are now being criticized for their action. Nonetheless, the student leaders who chose not to attend the General Assembly, and would protest through their own partisan groups, are now being rewarded for their inaction.

Add to this the conduct in which the petition that circulated in the College was made. While we agree that it is totally condescending to allege that everyone who signed the petition was misinformed, the truth that a number of students were misled into signing it puts the entire effort in bad faith.

That is the rationale behind ALYANSA's clarification regarding the role of the CSSPSC officers concerned in the CRSRS issue. We are just defending the members of the CSSPSC who acted in accordance with their principles. Once more, we thank the concerned individuals and groups who wanted our clarification. 

There are issues raised by a few students about the CSSPSC's stand on the CRSRS. What do you say about this?

For a decade, ALYANSA and its member-organizations have rallied for reforms in the Codified Rules for Student Regent Selection (CRSRS). Our position stems from the fact that we need a more democratic process in selecting the Student Regent, who is our ONLY representative to the University's highest governing body. 

In a nutshell, here are our core demands: (1) a MINIMUM academic requirement for SR nominees consistent with University rules, (2) a one-college, one-vote system for selection that would uphold the representative nature of the SR, and (3) opening up the SR selection process by delegating the Secretariat to the General Assembly of Student Councils, instead of a political alliance. Through the years, we have also demanded for including the duties of the Student Regent in our CRSRS, among other points. Nonetheless, these reforms point out to our big idea: to make the SR selection process truly democratic. In fact, the present controversy concerning our Student Regent points out the need to reform the system, which is admittedly imperfect.

This is the big idea on which our local candidates in the CSSPSC campaigned for and won. Being elected carrying this position on the CRSRS enabled our CSSPSC to conduct informal consultations and submit our basic commitments for reforming the process. We do recognize the need to do more in extending ourselves for formal consultations, but the existing constraints then (such as the week-long suspension of classes due to typhoon Ondoy near the end of the filing deadline) rendered this option impractical at that moment. Nonetheless, the CSSPSC's moves have been done in a transparent manner, in accordance to principle and procedure. This is in direct contrast to the protest filed by groups pushing for the removal of the CSSPSC officers on their commitment to this issue, which has been proven to have gathered many signatures in a fraudulent manner that misinforms the students who signed the petition.

Indeed, ALYANSA's stand on the CRSRS has been marked with a fundamental difference --- a commitment to reform, as well as a transparent, accountable manner of pushing for it.