#NEWS | S.Y. 2019–20 Elections: The Candidates of Batch 2023
by Francine Ponferrada
Running for 2023’s batch council in this year’s elections is the party Orion, composed of Celver Ortiz (President), Gabriel Zara (VP), Racquel Catolico (Secretary), Filbert Ubanos (Treasurer) and Chris Balanga (Auditor).
The name “Orion” is inspired by the constellation of the same name with eight main bright stars. The party aspires to connect 2023 the same way Orion connects these eight stars, believing that it would help their batch become better and more productive.
In their General Plan of Action (GPOA), Orion aims to promote transparency by posting their budget expenses and added money every first Sunday of the month. They also aim to promote unity and batch participation by formulating two batch congresses, an Academic Committee, and a Creative Committee.
With the help of these congresses, committees and their batchmates, they want to plan more activities such as art fundraisers, art workshops, and post-quarter parties. And to help next year’s batch council, they also want to start forming their batch’s Fair Committee and start taking suggestions on how to run next year’s fair.
With the Miting de Avance set to happen tomorrow, August 2, we asked them a few questions to help our readers get to know them better.
Why are you running for batch council?
Chris Balanga, Auditor: The reason we decided to run for batch council is to help play a more active role in developing and improving the batch through council duties.
What is the main thing you want to accomplish if you become elected?
Filbert Ubanos, Treasurer: Orion is a constellation with eight luminous stars. Those stars represent the sections in our batch. We are the stars that shine brightly. That is why we would like to connect those stars like the constellation we base ourselves with. May it be parties to help people get to know each other, committees to showcase our batch’s skills, or being transparent with them, we would like to promote unity. That way we would be closer as a batch, work together more efficiently, and make our batch a better community overall.
How will you balance schoolwork and batch council responsibilities?
Racquel Catolico, Secretary: We plan to create an organized schedule where we can focus on school work and batch council responsibilities at different times. However, in case there is a time when we need to prioritize both in the same day, we would negotiate between members in distributing equal tasks of what needed to be done in the batch council so the responsibilities aren’t too heavy, making room for us to do our schoolwork.
How do you plan to deal with each other when conflicts arise?
Gabriel Zara, VP: We cannot prevent arising conflicts, and that’s the main reason why the batch council exists, to ensure a strong unity among batches. In the case of rising conflicts, we plan to diplomatically resolve them by not jumping to conclusions and trying to understand all sides of the story as much as possible. Even if it takes a long time, we will try to resolve every problem among ourselves. However, if we really can’t resolve such conflicts, we may rely on authority for a stronger opinion and final decision.
And finally, what makes you deserving to become part of the batch council?
Celver Ortiz, President: We think Orion deserves a spot in the Batch Council because of the three traits we have: commitment, dedication, and consideration. We will do our best to do what we say at its best and consider all opinions to serve the batch better.
In their General Plan of Action (GPOA), Orion aims to promote transparency by posting their budget expenses and added money every first Sunday of the month. The link to their full GPOA may also be found here.
Being the only party running for batch council, Orion has a lot of pressure on them to convince their batchmates to vote for them, with the power to abstain being the only thing stopping them from winning.
Still undecided on whether you should vote for them or not? The 2023 Miting De Avance will be held tomorrow, September 2, at the 4th Floor Auditorium from 11:20–12:10 P.M.. The links to their full GPoAs can be found here:
