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| Photo by Jamila Alyssa Estanislao |
Taking the challenge of running for the position of UST-CASA’s Auditor is Sophomore Lorenzo Gabrielle L. Guinto of Partido KaCASA. In Chronicle’s interview, he laid out his programs and intentions for his co-communication students if elected to the said post.
What drives you to run for the position you are aiming to fill?
Being at the Communication Arts Students Association, syempre marami na tayong na-experience na iba’t ibang trabaho within the organization itself. Naranasan ko nang maglingkod bilang Executive Associate to the Vice President External at sa kasalukuyang akademikong taunan, ako ay inyong general staffer para sa UST CASA. At syempre, nakita ko kung paano nagpupunyagi yung CASA into different fields ng trabaho dito sa CASA at nakita ko rin na malaki pa yung potential na maiimprove natin sa CASA by hearing, sa pakikinig sa mga constituents nito. Kaya naman, isa sa aking naging drive kung bakit ako, gusto kong maging Auditor ay para mas ma-amplify, mas mapakinggan pa natin yung boses at mas mabigyan natin ng oportunidad yung mga kakayahanan nung CASAns upang ipakita ito sa, hindi lamang sa CASAn community but also with the non-CASAn community. And also, kung mapapansin natin sa CASA kasi, we don’t have those people who are really interested into making sure na nagagawa nang ayos yung mga trabaho ng bawat isang miyembro ng CASA hanggang sa pinakahuling miyembro nito. Kaya naman bilang Auditor, ninais ko ang posisyong ito upang mabigyan ng pagkakataon ang bawat isa na, na ipakita kung ano yung natutunan nila sa CASA at ma-apply ito sa ating organisasyon bilang organisasyon na, na nagbibigay oportunidad sa bawat CASAn.
Do you have past experiences that will help you in fulfilling the responsibilities of the position you are running for, and what can you offer to the CASAn Community if you were to serve them?
Year 2019, I was the auditor of the Samahang Pangkabataan ng Canossa that was from the Canossa Academy Calamba student council. Yes, as an auditor on that student council, I have prior knowledge on how auditing works and how can I fulfill my duties and responsibilities as elected auditor for the next academic year. Yes, I have experience being an auditor and I can still improve on this field by making sure that I am aligned with all of the things I need to do as an auditor.
This is a For or Against question. I would like to ask your stance on the Maharlika Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Maharlika Sovereign Wealth Fund pala yung pinag-uusapan pala natin dito and con yung stand ko dito. For further details, gusto kong mapagaralan pa ito ng gobyerno. And, hindi ito basta basta lang na dapat ipasa dahil marami pang ineentail na mga dapat ayusin sa batas or sa Maharlika Sovereign Wealth Fund.
What measures are you going to take concerning your Walk and Talk advocacy campaign to maintain the objective of achieving sustainable fashion communication by changing fashion narratives, to make this platform more viable?
Walk and Talk sustainability advocacy campaign aims to promote sustainability through a series of campaigns especially yung pag-apply natin ng sustainability in our daily lives, of course. Yung first part of this project would probably entail a lot of research from the CASAn community on how we obtain and use our resources in order to attain fashionable outfits and in order to attain something to wear. So, sustainability advocacy campaign, in its implementation part, would have a research or a survey per se of asking the CASAn community of their semestral carbon footprint. In that way, we will be able to identify kung paano nagco-consume ng resources yung CASAn community and paano mas magiging effective and interesting si sustainability advocacy Walk campaign sa buong CASAn community.
By doing so, na nalaman na natin kung paano mag-consume ng resources yung buong CASAn community, or at least the majority, we can be able to identify what are the strengths of the project which is prepared already by yours truly and by that, means mas mapo-promote natin in a way na interesting siya sa CASAn community, yung sustainability. Kasi fashion is not just about buying whatever you wanna buy in order to become fashionable. Fashion is about using your resources in order for you to form another kind of fashion that you can, as CASAns kasi we are creative, that we can wear. And also, itong Walk and Talk sustainability advocacy campaign would also entail, if possible, we will donate yung mga clothes na ginawa ng CASAn community through upcycling. We always promote recycling—yes, that’s good, but this time, we want to jump into the world of upcycling kasi masyado na tayong maraming nagagamit na mga fabrics, damit, textiles and we can look further into the research of the United Nations, they are really promoting upcycling and sustainability up until this moment. So, yeah, that would entail the sustainability advocacy Walk campaign.
What are your platforms and how do you plan to put them into action?
For my platforms let’s start with the CASA E-Value. The CASA E-Value entails three important parts. First is the CASA Database Management System that would entail a list or mayroon siyang listahan ng mga kagamitan ni CASA na kung saan ginagamit natin yung mga kagamitan na iyon at binili natin using yung CASA funds natin. So mahalaga sa akin bilang auditor na mapangalagaan at bigyang importansya kung saan natin ginagamit yung mga pondo ng CASA. For example dito is yung CASA Flag which can be reused sa iba’t-ibang events so CASA Database sytem would entail a document that would really na tutulong sa atin para bigyang linaw at mayroon tayong sapat na dokumentong magpapatunay sa mga pag-aari ni CASA at ito ay magkakaroon din or maglalaman din ng Frequently Added Questions tuwing enrollment since marami din sa CASAns ang nalilito kung paano nga ba mag-enroll. Ito ay isang manual na siyang magiging available into the public. So yung pangalawa naman is yung CASAns Constituent Satisfactory Survey or the CSAT. CSAT would entail two parts. Yung two parts nya is yung Post Partnership Evaluation Survey natin.
Ang Post Partnership Evaluation Survey ay mangyayari or magaganap sa tuwing mayroong partnership si CASA. So this Post Partnership Evaluation Survey from the help from those people communicating or in partnering with the plans or anything CASA is partnering with, magkakaroon tayo ng Post Partnership Evaluation Survey. Bakit kailangan natin ng Post Partnership Evaluation Survey? In order for us as an auditor, para makita natin at masuri natin kung paano nga ba ginagawa ang mga partnership at kung na-fufulfill ba natin yung mga Memorandum of Agreements, yung mga dapat natin mafulfill doon sa end ng partner natin at kung nafufullfil ba ng partners natin yung agreement natin with them. Post Partnership Evaluation Survey would help us identify kung ano nga yung mga brands or mga organizations that we need to partner with in order for us to build a good connection from other organizations that may help CASA and that may benefit the CASAn community as a whole.
So yung sunod naman is ay yung CASAns Satisfactory Evaluation Survey. So yung CASAn Satisfaction Evaluation Survey would entail naman yung buong CASAn community about yung mga gusto nila marating sa atin as a Executive Board ng CASA and would help us identify kung ano pa nga ba ang kailangan ng buong CASAn community. Throughout the years mayroon naman tayong mga post event survey na mag-iidentify kung paano natin maiimprove yung mga events pero this time paano naman natin maiimprove yung pamumuhay ng CASAn community at naman makakatulong si CASA sa constituents nila since we are here naman to be the bridge of the CASAn community to let their voice be heard nga, ‘di ba. Paulit-ulit naman natin itong sinasabi and by means of letting their voice be heard, kailangan natin ng prior knowledge kung saan nanggagaling yung buong CASAn community kaya we will distribute this CASAn Satisfaction Evaluation Survey sa buong CASAn community and we will be able to identify ano pa nga ba yung need natin maimprove to be able, to help them achieve their goals within CASA and outside CASA.
And yun, yung Sustainable Advocacy, Walk and Talk Sustainability Advocay Campaign naman ay ito ay isang advocacy campaign that will entail a process of again knowing kung paano nga ba or what are the ways CASAns para magkaroon ng sustainability and of course, in order for us to give social justice sa environment natin, we would also have this advocacy drive campaign that would entail a process wherein hindi lamang ang product and madadating natin kung mapaparating din natin yung proyekto na ito sa mga nangangailangan in case na madodonate natin yung mga damit na ginawa ‘di ba ng mga CASAn community ‘dun naman sa mga less fortunate na wala namang need yung mga damit na i-upcycle.
How can your subsequent platforms bring about change department-wide and if applicable University-wide as well?
Simulan natin sa CASA E-Value, so this is an evaluation system that we’re trying to apply to the entire CASAn community, paano ito nakapagbigay ng change? Mayroon na tayong Post Partnership Evaluation Survey na pwede nating gawing basehan para malaman kung paano pa maiimprove or paano pa natin gagawin ang mga future partnerships natin with the organization. Yung ano naman, CASA Database Management System or DPMS natin would entail naman the process of knowing kung ano naman ang mga kagamitan na mayroon si CASAns and if there are chances that CASAns may have the need to use these things or itong mga kagamitan ng CASA pwede nilang i-borrow through the Database Management System.
Yung ano naman yung CASAn Satisfaction Survey naman natin would entail a process of hearing from the CASAn community kasi yung priority natin dito sa CASA ay marinig natin yung CASAns kasi nga we are also CASAns who wants our voice to be heard. Kasi nga mahirap na nga acads natin so we are here to be the bridge kung paano natin mapapadali ang buhay ng isa’t-isa so that is for the CASAn community and for the CASA E-Value and the CASA Evaluation System. For our second platform naman which is the CASA… Sige unahin na muna natin yung Sustainability Advocacy Campaign. This will bring unversity-wide change kasi nga we will promote sustainability as a whole and I believe wala pa naman sa buong UST yung nakagawa ng isang campaign that will entail a process of upcycling clothes. Kasi most universities talaga they recycling but this time we promote upcycling. This can also be partnered with different organizations in UST.
To mention some, UST Earth, if you are familiar, so yeah. Ito yung second platform natin, yung exhibit natin which is formerly known as the CASA Checkpoint. Paano ito magbibigay ng drastic change, sa ating CASAn community, syempre ‘di ba, as CASAns you all guys are making up projects that you don’t have any idea, wala tayong ideya kung paano natin gagawin yung mga proyektong ito. So parang this will work as a related literature for us to be able to ensure accountability and to make sure na yung process na ginagawa natin ay makakatulong for us to have a meaningful and a wonderful project to be showcased na na-aapply yung mga natutunan natin sa ating mga subjects.
How would you strive for openness and transparency if the flow of all audit reports across organizational activities, if elected as auditor for the next academic year?
Openness and transparency is on the job description of an auditor, and yes, we always advocate for that. How will we do that? Of course through all the events, audit reports, and all of the things that we do inside the CASA community. It is with proper documentation and proper paper processes that we submit to the higher ops that we have here in the organization and by doing so, diba, we can publish, um, pubmats of the transparency reports of the events that we are doing here on CASA. and of course, we would highly inform the CASAn community how our events went well and how our other projects or kung kamusta yung mga ibang proyekto ni CASA na ginagawa, diba? By openness and truth here, it means a lot, and we would be able to achieve it by making sure that we are making the necessary document in order for us to be… in order for us na masiguro na ginagawa ng bawat miyembro, especially the executive board, yung trabaho nlla in to these events. And, yeah. We could release publication materials that would entail yung process and how the projects went here sa CASA.
How will you strive to ensure that CASAns engage actively and correctly answer the evaluation inquiries as the person in charge of evaluations?
Of course we can ensure the CASAn community to answer this evaluation survey by making sure that the surveys are available also on their phones and other devices. In making sure that these surveys are available sa other devices ng buong CASAn community, we can have them answer it anytime anywhere. And also, we would also consider the attention span of the CASAn community, but never disregard the quality of the survey that we are producing on the entire community. By means of producing survey, it doesn’t mean naman na magpapalagay tayo doon ng essays, but we will put there questions that are really vital in order for us to attain yung need natin na makuhang information or assessment from the entire CASAn community.
From a 1COM student: to all the candidates, why should you not win and be elected in your respective positions?
I can ensure that, through all the academic requirements we have, as a second, as an incoming third-year student we all know na marami tayong ginagawa and that could probably one of the reasons kung bakit hindi dapat ako yung maelect kasi I am so preoccupied with a lot of academic requirements, but, here I am standing and talking in front of you today to ensure accountability and to ensure that I am passionate. Hindi enough ang passion to be able to drive this position, to be able to drive this organization. But I am here standing infront of you, despite all of the things and responsibilities that I have, because I know that the CASAn community deserves more. Because I know na marami pang magagawa yung entire CASAn community. And despite all of those challenges that we are facing, I know that this position wouldn’t be given to me without having knowledge on how to do it. And that’s the reason why I should be elected as the auditor because I am making sure that the CASAn Community will have what it takes to be an organization that is competent, compassionate, and committed. As our mantra, or as our GPOA says diba? Braving adversities, building trust that entails a lot of why we are here standing for the CASAn community from the CASA community.
Further Details of CASA Halalan ‘23
In line with the ongoing Electoral activities, here are the remaining important dates to remember:
April 12-18, 29, 2023 - Campaign Period
May 3 and 4, 2023 (10 A.M. to 6 P.M.) - CASA Elections ‘23 Proper
May 6, 2023 - Announcement of Duly Elected Executive Board for A.Y. 2023-2024
To be in the loop for further updates and announcements regarding the CASA Halalan ‘23, kindly visit the official Facebook and Twitter Pages of the UST-CASA Electoral Board.
