‘SSG officers are here for you’: Women-led SSG wins pilot online elections FRANCISCO CLAY, JR. “I WANT TO tell them that you can come to us and tell us your problem. We want you to know that your SSG officers are here for you,” newly-elected Supreme Student Government (SSG) President Tishana Maria Bertiz Party assured the UNC Senior High School community. This was said after she won the presidency in the first online SSG elections. According to her, most of the plans that they made throughout the campaign and in the next school year will be focusing on the betterment of the SHS learners. Bertiz also shared some of the programs that will be proposed by the newly-elected SSG. One of which is a mental health awareness activity in October to help alleviate the pressure and stress among the learners. “Our first plan is to focus on mental health awareness in October. We plan on creating webinars and uplifting daily posts to remind students that they have to take care of their mental health even though there’s academic pressure,” she explained. The president also stated that they will have projects such as Battle of the Strands” to showcase the learners’ capabilities and it will also serve as online intramurals. The president added that there will also be an online “kumustahan” or portal for students to relay their problems and speak up their minds. Meanwhile, according to the SSG Vice-President-elect Angel Rodora Mortega, they will still communicate with the student body in implementing their programs to ensure proper execution. “We are going to do some surveys to know their opinions and the matters from the students. There will also be [group chats] with the prime ministers and representatives so that we can talk about it,” Mortega discussed. Mortega also showed concern on the issues they might face with regard to communicating with the learners. However, she assured that the SSG will address it as well. “We are in a pandemic and we are limited to go outside. We are planning to do the UNC tour, but there’s a chance that we can’t come back to [Modified General Community Quarantine]... We are also having problems communicating with the students, but we are going to resolve this. issue and ensure that all of them will share their matters with us,” Mortega added. Bertiz also mentioned that countermeasures will be in place if some of their proposed plans don’t work. “If there are problems, let’s say a calamity, we will make sure to postpone and move it so that everybody is comfortable and available to continue the project and if not, I think we are going to revise the events into a simpler form that it wouldn’t be a work overload for us,” Bertiz reassured. Meanwhile, the Students’ Commission on Election (SCE) made several changes to the election procedure due to the pandemic. According to SCE Chairperson Jude Ogarte, the main challenge was to ensure the security of the votes, especially ensuring that the voter turnout per strand will reach the 50%+1 threshold to avoid failure of the elections. Compared to the SSG Elections last 2020 with a turnout of 86.90%, the 2021 Elections had a lower turnout at 58.23%. However, no failure of the election was declared as it reached the 50%+1 threshold. “With all those difficulties that were encountered, sustaining communication within the body was our substantial countermeasure. Knowing that we do not have direct supervision of the entire election process,” Ogarte explained. Due to the decreased turnout, the incoming SCE Chairperson Francine Ivanna Gabay vowed to increase it through raising awareness and earlier preparations. The chairperson also said that the problems are raised in this latest election should be properly addressed next year. She plans on coordinating with class advisers for the smooth dissemination of student’s emails and voter ID a month before the election since students are from modular modality and said that they didn’t receive their accounts. “We can also post some things that would help them know the importance of their votes since if they don’t know such things, how will they be able to know the importance of their votes in the upcoming national elections?” Gabay TURN TO 18
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