When ‘UB Express’ left an expression, but for the wrong reasons
To start off, sometimes flowery nonsense can be mistaken as progressive talk when a good speaker is holding the microphone. As the lone party list ‘Sulong’ took their moment to propose the plans they have at the University of Batangas Student Government (UBSG) Miting de Avance, one can get confused if the words spilling out of their mouths are thoroughly laid-out or just utter word vomits for the sake of an audience impact.
Cartoon by John Leonard Royo
By Patricia Hernandez
April 21, 2023
As important as it might sound, this year’s UBSG Miting de Avance did not make that much noise despite the huge tarpaulin and social media posts that were made regarding the event. The election of the student government officers is one of the most crucial affairs of the College, because we are not simply talking about names but the welfare and the future of the University and its students as a whole.
How confident must a lone party list be to give out ideal proposals rather than practical ones especially those that are long time issues for the college students? For instance, Mandatory ROTC, and reforming of dress code were some examples. That’s right. They will automatically win and we do not have a say about that.
One of the projects discussed by ‘Sulong’ was the ‘UB Express’ which when you hear for the first time can deliver an impression that it was related to transportation; well, that was what we were thinking. If it was actually about this, then was it a free jeepney ride for the students or was it not? It was already unclear in the first place that even other Press writers at the University made minor mistakes in their article.
On the other hand, we must take in to account that the UBSG Miting de Avance was announced in a short notice. No one really participated in the event if not for some Political Science students who were handling the meeting and the supporters of ‘Sulong’.
But this does not analogize to empty promises because as the party list automatically won, no one can ensure if the elections were a truly democratic one if there was no decision making or choices. Well, not voting was a choice but still; we were left with no chance to choose who we want to elect at all.
We can say that as students, we have our expectations when it comes to those who will lead. No matter how much we complain, what’s done is done. We have our new set of UBSG officers for the incoming school year. What we really want is for the new officers to align actions to their words and make a proper planned path no matter how rocky the journey might be due to a sort of bad first impression.
Let us end with the statement identity of ‘Sulong’ which is to lead a unified union. Let us give them a chance to unify their thoughts first, because no one would want to ride a ‘UB Express’ with an unclear destination.
