Ateneo de Manila University

Student Judicial Court

Miguel Paolo Rivera

Party Premier and Interim Chancellor, Christian Union for
Socialist and Democratic Advancement

Denica Oarde
President, Partido Isabuhay Isagawa – Agila

Claudia Alexis Vega

Chairperson, Alliance of Student Leaders

xxxxxxxxxxxx Plaintiffs

Jan Robert V. Beltajar

Chief Magistrate

Jan Franz Norbert J.A Chan

Gerald T. Chua
Michael Anton P. Estipona
Romando Angelo R.B Garcia
Frances L. Pabilane
Magistrates
Ateneo Student Judicial Court

Jon Andre V. Vergara

Chief Commissioner, Ateneo Commission on Elections

Margaux Alyssa O. Tan

Ray Allen M. Lacsamana
Dan Marc A. Villanueva
Eldridge Myles L. Tan
Commissioners, Ateneo Commission on Elections
xxxxxxxxxxxx Respondents

Petition

WHEREAS, Plaintiffs, Miguel Rivera, Denica Oarde, and Claudia

Alexis Vega are students of the Ateneo de Manila University and
are the Party Premier and Interim Party Chancellor of the
Christian Union for Socialist and Democratic Advancement
(henceforth CRUSADA), President of Partido Isabuhay Isagawa –
Agila (henceforth IBIG-AGILA), and Chairperson of the coalition
Alliance of Student Leaders (henceforth ASL).
WHEREAS, CRUSADA is a student political party undergoing the
process of accreditation, espousing genuine democracy in the
Ateneo de Manila University, duly incorporated in August 20,
2010.

WHEREAS, IBIG-AGILA is an accredited student political party of

the Ateneo de Manila University – Loyola Schools, which aims to
inform competent leaders in a diverse field of endeavors in
service to the Ateneo community and the nation at large, duly
incorporated January 11, 2011.

WHEREAS, ASL is a coalition of candidates for the 2011

Sanggunian General Elections, duly accredited by the Ateneo
Commission on Elections.

WHEREAS, The Ateneo Commission on Elections (henceforth known as

Ateneo COMELEC), published a document entitled “2011 General
Elections Candidate’s Manual” (henceforth known as the
Candidate’s Manual) supposedly in pursuant to Article VI § 2 of
the 2010 Electoral Code.

WHEREAS, Plaintiffs would like this august court to direct the

Ateneo COMELEC to explain it’s recent actions regarding the
following impasses:

I. The questionable legality of a release of an "Unofficial

List of Candidates":

WHEREAS, the Ateneo COMELEC released a separate Unofficial List

of Candidates for both the Top 36 Candidates and the Course and
Block Representative Candidates both dated January 23, 2011.

WHEREAS, no section in the Electoral Code of 2010 authorizes the

Ateneo COMELEC to release such a list prior to the release of an
Official List of Candidates.

II. The questionable legality of a release of the

"corrected" Final and Official List of Candidates:

Article V, § 4 of the Electoral Code of 2010

states thus:

"b. The Ateneo COMELEC shall release the

official list of candidates one (1) working
day after the General Assembly of
candidates."
WHEREAS, the Ateneo COMELEC, through the website
www.facebook.com
(link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eidhttp://piratepad.net
/ep/search?query=158269437559223)=158269437559223) created an
event page inviting the public to attend the Candidate's General
Assembly.

WHEREAS, in the said event page, the Ateneo COMELEC cancelled

the said event reasoning thus:

“Please be advised that the Candidate's GA WILL NOT

PUSH THROUGH ANYMORE. The nature of the event is to
answer any question candidates may have regarding the
Candidate's manual, and because candidates may ask
their questions through other means, there is no more
reason to hold the said event.

In effect, the Candidate's GA is no longer a

requirement for aspiring candidates. Please wait for
the release of the Official List of Candidates.

Also, please wait for the release of the Candidates

Manual, which will contain all information candidates
may need regarding the election period (campaign,
coalitions, sanctions, etc.). The link will be posted
on the Ateneo COMELEC FB fan page by tonight (Jan.
26).

For any concerns, please post your question in the

Discussions portion of the Ateneo COMELEC fan page, or
drop by the Ops Room (MVP 010).

Thank you.”

WHEREAS, the said Candidate's General Assembly (hereinafter GA)

did not materialize according to the stipulations of the
Electoral Code.

WHEREAS,

a.) There are no measures stipulated in the Electoral

Code of 2010 for protests and requests for revisions
even if the Final and Official List of Candidates
(attached as ANNEX I) contains multiple errors such
as:

1.) The listing of IV AB-MA POS course representative

candidate Alyssa M. Nuqui's name as "Alyssa Niqui"
 III. The confusing system for the regulation of campaign
finances with regards to the limitations of such:

WHEREAS, Article VI § 4 Paragraph D of the 2010 Electoral Code

states thus:

“The sanction for the first minor offense would be a 25%

decrease in the cost ceiling.”

WHEREAS, there is no mention or provision of a price ceiling in

the Candidate’s Manual currently in effect.

WHEREAS, there are provisions in the Candidate’s Manual, under

the heading “Campaign Guidelines for Individual Candidates”
which states the limit as to the number of campaign
paraphernalia that individual candidates may produce, there
remains no clear price ceiling for the candidates.

WHEREAS, the cost ceiling is an important feature in any

election, so as to ensure that fairness in campaigning is
upheld.

WHEREAS, the proliferation of a Candidates Manual invalidates

the guidelines set forth in the last Sanggunian General
Election, and thus the cost ceiling set then cannot be applied
to the current General Elections, unless further clarified and
stated by the Ateneo COMELEC.

WHEREAS, the lack of a definition of what the cost ceiling

threatens to render moot the sanctions stipulated in Article VI
§ 4 of the Electoral Code.

WHEREAS, the provisions of the Candidate's Manual currently in

effect does mention a certain mechanism for the calculation of a
ceiling under the heading "Campaign Guidelines for Individual
Candidates" with additional guidelines set on provisions under
the headers "Campaign Guidelines for Parties and Coalitions"
there has not been an accompanying memorandum clarifying the
fundamental variable for the calculation of such, namely the
numbers of students (eligible voters) in the University.

IV. The lack of sufficient and effective mechanisms for

the approval and dissemination of candidate's
paraphernalia.
WHEREAS, a provision under the header "Guidelines for Campaign
Plan Approval" in the Candidate's Manual currently in effect,
states thus:

"Once proposal is approved, you may begin production of

campaign paraphernalia. All produced paraphernalia must be
logged in the Ateneo COMELEC logbook inside the Ops Room
before distribution. No extra approval is needed as long as
it is within the parameters of FORM 10. Only the number of
produced paraphernalia will be monitored.”

WHEREAS, there is no mention in the said Candidate's Manual of

any clear and distinct process or mark by which the public may
know which campaign paraphernalia disseminated throughout campus
had been thoroughly inspected and approved for dissemination.

WHEREAS, such a lack of mechanism renders the Ateneo COMELEC

unable to duly exercise it's duties to punish candidates who go
beyond the limitations set by the Ateneo COMELEC.

V. The lack of clarification regarding the bidding and

procurement processes for the automation of the elections.

WHEREAS, the process for the bidding and procurement of all

paraphernalia and equipment to be used regarding the automation
of the elections have not been publicly disclosed by the
COMELEC.

VII. Failure to clarify points raised by personalities

through the Official Facebook Page thus leading to a
slowdown of pertinent information dissemination.

WHEREAS, the COMELEC maintains a page for official

communications contained in the website www.Facebook.com
(link: http://www.facebook.com/ateneocomelec)

WHEREAS, such a page was to function in such a way that the

public and the candidates for election may post queries
regarding the various rulings of the Ateneo COMELEC, and as
such, would receive a reply.

WHEREAS, as of this writing, the COMELEC has failed to answer

pertinent questions raised by both candidates and supporters.

Examples of pertinent queries, which, as of the filing of

this petition, had not been answered by the Ateneo COMELEC,
include:
 a. A post made on January 30, 2011 states thus:

“We have a question about the very complicated body tags.

Does "shared design" mean design-design like template? So
any coalition and party using the same design template must
follow that complicated deductions, using the max number of
constituents across all their members? Or does shared
design only include how many people are in 1 promo
material? Say, a chair and sectreas share in 1 promo
material, the only deduction they will get is 75% of their
constituents even if they are part of a bigger coalition.
Please respond to my question as soon as possible. Thank
you!”

WHEREAS, pertinent questions, though it may have been answered

via a personal reply to the student, contains information
pertinent to all stakeholders of the campaign, and must be
cleared through wider-disseminated channels.

THEREFORE, the Plaintiffs petition that:

I. This honorable Court ORDER the Ateneo COMELEC to immediately

convene all major stakeholders of the campaign (i.e. political
parties, candidates or representatives thereof, etc.) to discuss
possible remedies to all lapses covered by this petition.

II. This Court DIRECT the Ateneo COMELEC to immediately CONVENE

a Candidate's GA to further clarify questions regarding the
campaign to all candidates or their representatives thereof.

III. That this Court issue a CEASE and DESIST ORDER to all
candidates from further posting PHYSICAL and MATERIAL campaign
paraphernalias. NEVERTHELESS, we acknowledge that it is no
longer feasible to regress the effects of already posted
materials, we further ask this Court that the Ateneo COMELEC
devise a system where currently posted materials be stamped with
the necessary approvals without being removed from where they
have been posted.

IV. That this Court DIRECT the Ateneo COMELEC to immediately

publicize the process for the bidding and procurement of the
equipment.

This 5th day of February, the Year 2011

Signed:

(sgd.)
Miguel Rivera
Party Premier and Interim Party Chancellor, CRUSADA

(sgd.)
Denica Oarde
President, Partido IBIG-AGILA

(sgd.)
Claudia Alexis Vega
Chairperson, ASL