Candidates for President and First Vice President from the three formed parties attended the interview with Mrs. Ruth Salamat to present their plans with the student body in mind last Friday, September 16.

Mrs. Salamat first screened the candidates from Sandigan party, Norella Belen (President) and Sidre Cruz (1st Vice President); Kohjiroh Iwaki (President) and Hannah Ilag (1st Vice President) of the Reliable Outstanding Young Achievers Leading to Success (ROYALS) party followed, and the last candidates to attend, Natasha Delos Santos (President) and Samantha Santos (1st Vice President) represented the Tindig Youth Leaders (TINDIG). 

Common questions are asked during the meeting to test the aspiring officers’ decision-making skills and the innovations they wanted to implement.

Future Student Leaders on their purpose of running 

Mrs. Ruth Salamat first asked the candidates why they applied for their current position.

Belen, aspiring president from the Sandigan party, hoped to create activities that will be enjoyed, not just by her classmates (she is currently serving as class president), but the whole campus, while Cruz, aspiring 1st vice president under  the same party, wanted to increase the standards for the Supreme Student Council (SSC). The aspiring 1st VP expressed that it is their duty to give students a responsible, competent, and progressive council. 

He wanted to make sure that no students are left out, especially the transferees, relating it to his experience after studying in the institution for a year. 

ROYALS’ Presidential Candidate, Iwaki, saw the election as a chance to bring back the fun and comfort that the students experienced pre-pandemic by implementing online and face-to-face activities such as cleaning activities to promote safety and cleanliness. The said activities doubles as a fund-raiser for the Student Council to implement their future projects. 

His running mate, Ilag, wanted to work on the concerns of the students to address the conflicts and adjustments after the two-year lockdown. 

TINDIG President Delos Santos envisions to be a leader that connects with the student body so the council could maximize their purpose as a bridge between the students and the institution. Throughout her interview, she also mentioned projecting an image of someone who is not higher than the student body, but a friend. 

Delos Santos’ running mate, 1st VP Candidate Santos’ main purpose of running in the said position is rooted to her belief that it would utilize her knowledge in leadership.

Candidates on the problems they see within the school and their solutions

The next question focused on the biggest concerns seen by the candidates and what solutions they would offer. 

For Belen, the drinkable water supplies for the students are scarce as well as the necessities such as tissues, alcohol, soap, and sanitary pads, thus dispensers for the said demands will be provided. She also emphasized the need for napkin dispensers because girls do not often know when their menstrual cycle will start, so it would be better to provide in case an unfortunate situation arises. 

Her running mate, Cruz wanted to prioritize advocating the students’ rights under the law, specifically under DepEd Order No. 32 (gender inclusivity in public and private schools), to make the institution more inclusive to the students’ gender expression after questions about the proper haircut for men circled within the student body.

Cruz added, “Hindi dapat ang students ang mag-aadjust para sa school, dapat po included po ang estudyante sa [paggawa] ng adjustments sa school" after noticing the CEIS Admins' lack of conclusive decisions which often resulted in disorganized announcements. To implement a more systematic way, he wanted to make sure that the student body is included in the decision-making process to avoid delays and information dissemination. 

Iwaki and Ilag, the pair from ROYALS, said that the unavailability of food, especially to those who live far from school, is one of the concerns. They plan to establish a classroom pantry not just to solve the problem, but to also limit the students from going out–thus complying to the CEIS safety protocols. 

Delos Santos, presidential aspirant from TINDIG, wanted to address the concerns regarding transparency.

She showed her willingness to listen to the concerns of the student body before escalating the problems to the school admin.

Santos on the other hand mentioned one of their party’s platforms called “student day” which sought to implement different activities to showcase the talents of the Escolarians after the two-year lockdown is lifted. The pair also wanted to feature students who own small businesses by allowing them to market and sell their products within the school grounds.

Future Student Leaders on a case against a school personnel that went viral on social media

The next question from Mrs. Ruth Salamat tests how the applicants would solve an issue of harassment that went viral online. 

Belen would first trace the victim as well as the source. She also mentioned that she would listen to the teacher’s side to keep the equality between the parties. The next step included finding evidence until it is sufficient enough to hold someone accountable. 

Cruz on the other hand, proposed to talk to the victim first before talking to the school since the students are their priority. He said they will be both subjective, by giving the student and teacher a chance to explain their sides, and objective by giving solutions based on the findings. The teacher should not be the only one held accountable, but the school should also take responsibility by issuing an apology letter to the student for incompetence, especially if the teacher is known to have bad moral records.

He also mentioned taking legal actions against the accountable party.

As for Iwaki, the first step he proposed is to gather facts about the case. “Hindi pwedeng biased lang tayo sa isa, kasi baka na-alter na ‘yung story,” he said to not only protect the image of the student, but to protect the teacher as well as the school’s. 

Ilag also favored listening to both sides of the story to make sure that the story will be accurate before concluding a solution. She then related the same issue that happened in her previous school, and defined the case traumatic for the affected sides. 

Like the other candidates, Delos Santos would test if the rumors are true by observing and investigating. All the facts would be written down so they would be able to create a letter that would then be forwarded to the general adviser of the strands so it could undergo proper processing. Thanks to her previous experience in handling a similar case, she was able to come up with the said solution. 

For Santos, taking control of the situation comes first. The students will be asked to take down their posts before approaching the victim to recommend taking legal action to ensure proper verdict between the involved parties. If it was in fact proven that the teacher made advances, the candidate would also urge the admins to investigate the teacher they committed the same violations before.