Majority of the students who attended the Faculty of Arts and Letters Speak Up forum gives the council frowning faces saying that they were not satisfied with the answers last Feb. 10 at AB lecture hall.
 
       ABSC left a drop box outside their office to let the students voice out their thoughts about the recently concluded Face to Face event with the student leaders and the administrators.
    
      The suggestion papers contain smileys and sad faces to indicate the performance rating of the council who answered every issue during the forum.
      
       Most of the entries shaded the sad face saying that the council was not able to clearly answer the questions especially about the lost fund issue.
       
      “Sa nangyaring Student Dialogue, hindi naman nila nasagot ang katanungan na kung nasaan ang 50k. Bagkus ay ipinaliwanang lamang nila kung bakit hindi ito maaaring sagutin na siya pang nagpalabnaw ng isyu,”STRAW Committee head, John Robert Magsombol said.

        Also, Magsombol added that the council challenged the Artlet community to be keen observers, logical thinkers and make those who are related to the issue responsible.

       “Hindi natuldukan ng event na ito ang mga agam-agam ng mga tao bagkus ay nagluwal pa ito ng hindi pagtititwala sa AB council,” Magsombol stated.

     Other issues were also brought up during the forum but the students wanted to clear the issue about the lost fund first before jumping into another issue.

     When asked whether the council should hold another student dialogue, Magsombol said that the council should resolve the things that were mentioned on the first dialogue so that they can give more concise answers.

      On the other hand, two days after the forum, Artlets continued to ask the Faculty admins and leaders the question “Nasaan ang 50k?” during the AB parade.
 
        With this year’s “Trip around the World” theme, each course was expected to dress up like their representing country. And they have to do a chant in front of the AB building for the judges to have a better look of their props and costumes.
  
      During the parade, second year Journalism students were shouting “Why not here?” and “Uruguay is for LGBT rights!,” and when it is their time to stop in front of the building, they blurted out “Nasaan ang 50k?” which leads to a fuss in the social media network.
  
      “What we did during the AB Parade was no different. It was the proper avenue to voice out our message not just to our fellow Artlets and the AB administration but also to the whole University,” Xavier Gregorio said.
   
     In response, “You could've shown a little respect. But the purpose of our parade was not to voice out disgruntlements. You should've just shown propriety in behalf of our society and the Artlet community,” second year student, Natasha Isidro commented.
 
       Nevertheless, both of the sides are saying that the issue about the lost 50k is still unclear and that the forum was not enough for them for there are no definite answers given by the council.

 

Photo by: Janine Perea

To finally discuss the issues surrounding the AB community, the faculty student council (ABSC) held a face to face dialogue event with the board of management, administrators and selected AB students with their Speak Up Forum at AB Rizal Hall, February 10. Although it is a talk between students and admins, the absence of the faculty dean, Michael Anthony Vasco, who was expected to be a part of the said dialogue was intrigued. "Is there a particular thing na itinatago niya sa amin? Bakit parang lagi siyang (Vasco) umiiwas?" Marcelli Papas, The Flame writer, asked the administrator. "Since two of our admins are already here, we need someone to supervise the office during their absence," ABSC Vice-President External Krystyna Nicole Feliciano explained.

Photo by: Janine Perea

The AB community was given the chance to ask the ABSC and the administrators limiting to one question per student and no follow-up questions are to be answered. Also, the AB COMELEC members filtered questions from the drop box outside the ABSC office. After almost 3 months, the student council voiced out their stand about the lost P50,000 which was supposed to be used for the Athena Cup, NGO fair and the Staff's General Assembly.

Photo by: Janine Perea

"Yung nawalang 50k, hindi siya naging hindrance sa performance at duties ng ating konseho," ABSC President Marie Jann Klaire Lazo stated. "Lahat naman tayo dito tao. Lahat naman tayo dito nagkakamali." Feliciano added. ABSC Vice-President Internal Dominic Castro also said that they are just ordinary students and they were just given the opportunity to serve. Also, he added that as students, they need to attend to their academic standings as well and cannot devote their full time as student leaders. From the statement given by the council last November 22, the lost fund was said to be gone last October 23. And when asked about what the council members did during that day, each of them responded saying that they were attending personal matters and was not present at the ABSC office at the day of the incident. As a to not have the same mistake, Asian Studies Society President Allen Amarillas suggested that the council should install CCTV cameras inside the office. But Assistant Dean Nancy Tabirara disagreed with Amarillas' statement saying that CCTV cameras are prohibited inside offices. The issue about the late opening of bank account was also brought up. "Summer before the start of the school year pa lang inaayos na namin. Pero pabago-bago ng requirements kaya hindi namin siya agad naayos," council treasurer Julienne Avila stated. "You are a student council and not an event organizer," John Magsombol, organization committee, said implying that the council should held more responsibility to gain credibility. Aside from the lost money, issues such as the Type B uniform was also opened up. ABSC defended that they still need to finalize whether they should require the students to buy the uniform knowing that this will just add to their expenses. Other matters surrounding the AB community were also tackled in the forum and the council and administrators answered each question thrown in by the students.