KAISA’S LEAL, TINIG’S ISMAEILI TO LEAD HIGHEST STUDENT COUNCILS

by Shekinah Faith P. Requintel

KAISA KA Party standard-bearer

Queenie Leal and Tinig ng Silangan Party Alliance’s Aliyah Nasrollah Ismaeili have been elected as the new University Student Council (USC) and Central Student Council (CSC) presidents, respectively, for the academic year 2023-2024.

After failing to obtain the top student council seats in the 2022 elections, Leal and Ismaeili returned their political parties to power with their victory in this year’s UE Student Council Elections.

According to the final and official result of the UE Manila Commission on Elections (Comelec), Leal, an incoming political science senior at UE Manila, won the presidency with 2,303 votes against Ang Sandigan sa Silangan standard-bearer Ramyla Ynah Parreño’s 2,293 votes.

This was the closest margin of victory in the USC presidential race since 1982, surpassing the 21 vote margin of victory in the 2006 UESC elections.

This was a historic accomplishment for Leal, as she assisted Kaisa Ka in not only ending the USC presidency’s four-year drought, but also winning a landslide victory in the highest student council. She is also the first president elected from a political science major since 2003.

Meanwhile, Ismaeili, an incoming accountancy senior at UE Caloocan, defeated Nagkakaisang Tugon Party Alliance standard-bearer Rabbi Polina Cruz’s re-election attempt for a second term. According to the final and official UE Caloocan Comelec results, the former received 1,706 votes to the latter’s 1,621 votes.

Ismaeili was no stranger to the student council arena, having served as a CSC auditor under former CSC President Saida Manap’s second term. The Dawn’s polls anticipated her victory in the 2023 UESC elections, and she remained in the lead until the final mock poll.

After being voted to the highest post in the student body, Leal and Ismaeili stated that the impending implementation of the 9.5% Tuition and Other Fees Increase (TOFI) will be the most difficult problem to handle for the forthcoming academic year.

“The term 2023-2024 would be challenging since we are about to enter the tuition and other fee increase and the apathy of the administration towards the student’s welfare. These are the things we want to focus on together with the UESC through our college councils,” the incoming USC president said.

“Every academic year, we grapple with inhumane and unjust policies. The most pressing student issue that needs to be addressed is tuition and other fees, TOFI, and the scholarship quota,” the incoming CSC chief attested.

Despite the UE administration’s anti-student practices, Leal assured the Dawn that she will continue to work for the students’ best interests in accordance with their guiding values.

“As the highest student governing body in the University, the University Student Council, along with other college councils, will continue in advancing the genuine interests of the whole studentry through ‘Tunay na Reporma sa Pamantasan, Ipaglaban’ which will serve as the core value of our term,” the political science student underscored.

“Together with this, the USC has [a] three-point agenda: Unifying the Students calls against the administration’s apathy. Under this agenda is the EASTkolar ni Lualhati which aims to increase the scholarship quota in the colleges; SAFE Zone that advocates for a safe learning environment [and] defends the victims of sexual harassment; and the establishment of Gender and Development corner,” Leal explained. Through community involvement, the new USC president will also promote students’ rights and welfare, as well as raise awareness of University and local social issues.

“Under the Students Rights and Welfare will be the Project First Aid for Mental Health, [which] is a training for the students who aim to become mental health first aiders and to offer accessible mental health checks, and Athlete’s Care that will reinforce with the GCCSO and the Sports and Committee Development for our athletes,” Leal revealed.

“We are communicating with the offices and the administration about the feasibility of our projects and have been working with different organizations and people. Let’s all work together to bring change to the University,” she added.

Meanwhile, Ismaeili seeks to strengthen the council’s student programs, “Kontra Syete and Laban sa TOFI,” through internal and external appeals and conversations.

“Bilang isang estudyante, narinig at nakita ko ang ating mga hinaing tungkol sa issue na ito. To address these issues, we have included in our general plan of action the call for Kontra Syete at Laban sa TOFI na patuloy nating pagtutuunan ng pansin at lalabanan through appeals and protest, dialogue with the president, coordination with CHED or other institutions like NUSP to further strengthen the call, and calling out the administration for transparency and accountability,” the new CSC president said. Furthermore, she hopes to introduce a new learning paradigm to the UE community with her initiative, “EduCause: Making Connections.”

“Through educational partnerships and continuously addressing student demands and concerns to the administration, such as adding sufficient learning spaces for CFAD and BA students, improving laboratory facilities for COE and CAS students, and providing a more sustainable, beneficial, and convenient platform for the students in the University,” Ismaeili added.

College council presidentsIvanee Fernandez of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), Prime Babida of the College of Business Administration (CBA), and Laurence Cabandong of the College of Computer Studies and Systems (CCSS) will join Leal in leading the UE Manila student body. Enrico Borja Jr. of the College of Engineering (CEng’g), Lawrence Sentor of the College of Education (CEduc), and Madeleine Grace Bayaborda of the College of Dentistry (CDent) also lead the UE Manila college councils. Ismaeili, on the other hand, will be joined by presidents of the UE Caloocan college council presidents: Erickvae Ricafort of the College of Fine Arts, Architecture, and Design (CFAD); Trisha Baylon of CEng’g; Ma. Erlene Claire Trono of CAS; and Khryzia Kemia Mijares of CBA.

UE ranks 11th among top 100 universities in PH

by Mae Rocelle D. Sulit

THE UNIVERSITY of the East (UE) was named one of the top academic institutions in the Philippines in the new EduRank.org’s Top 100 Best Universities.

According to EduRank.org, an impartial metric-based ranking website, UE is the Philippines’ 11th top academic institution. In addition, the University was placed eighth in the National Capital Region (NCR) and fifth in the City of Manila.

“The rankings are determined by analyzing 373K citations received by 30.4K academic publications made by 229 universities from the Philippines, the popularity of 889 recognized alumni, and the largest reference database available,” the EduRank website posted.

UE’s ranking was determined not only by its research output of nearly 1,000 academic publications and over 52,500 citations, but also by the nonacademic reputation and the impact of its 33 notable alumni, including action king Fernando Poe Jr., actor Xian Lim, professional basketball player James Yap, journalist and politician Noli de Castro, and National Artist Virgilio S. Almario. Meanwhile, medicine, liberal arts and social sciences, and biology were the top fields with the most publications and citations from UE. In the Philippines, the University placed fifth for liberal arts and social sciences and sixth in biology and physics.

UE was also ranked seventh in psychology and chemistry, ninth in computer science and engineering, and 10th in business.

The website also revealed that the University had a 70% acceptance rate, which is based on the “ratio of admissions to applications and other circumstantial enrollment data.” EduRank.org ranks 14,131 universities from 183 countries using a proprietary database with millions of scientific publications and citations.