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| Photo by Jamila Alyssa Estanislao |
Vesting the power to a new roster of student leaders, CASAns are set to partake in the upcoming Halalan 2023 with 6 running candidates pursuing the Executive Board posts for the next academic year.
To know the aspirants even more, the UST-CASA Electoral Board partnered with UST-CASA Chronicle to administer a set of interviews, which will serve as an alternative for the supposed Miting de Avance.
With that, running for the position of UST-CASA’s Public Relations Officer, Freshman Dean Manuel V. Pinza of Partido KaCASA is making his presence known to the CASAn community, revealing his leadership portfolio and plans for CASA through the interview conducted by Chronicle.
What drives you to run for the position that you are aiming to fill?
Well, one of my advocacies has always been amplifying the voice of others. I like to assist, or I like to use my abilities to the best of them, to help other people voice what they want to voice. If they want to fight for something. If they want to share their creative talents or ventures, I’m always dedicated to helping other people achieve that platform. And ofcourse, there is also the need to be a student leader if you’re already ano, there’s, merong ano eh, merong connotation na ‘pag mulat ka na, di ka na ulit pwedeng pumikit. So the need for student leadership, the need for service, nandun na talaga sakin ever since I started student leadership in high school. And I believe that this need is what drives me talaga to run. I want to help other people be listened [to]. I want to help other people be heard para magkaroon nga ng mas inclusive and mas transformative na CASA.
Aside from your student leadership experience in your high school days, what other past experiences do you think will help you in fulfilling the responsibilities of the position you are running for? On that note, what can you offer then to the CASAn community?
In my past experiences, I have been team leaders for competitions. I have been technical director for various events. And student council positions naman, I have been a governor for my batch during Junior High School and in Senior High School, I have been the Vice Chairman of the Commission on Elections din. So, I know what it is like to protect the sanctity of the ballot. In terms of what I can offer to the CASAns naman, like I have said, I can offer service. Kaya kong mag-offer ng service na non-discriminatory. I have of course in my experiences under the office the Public Relations Officer. Meron din akong experience nga in creating the needs sa isang P.R.O. I have created pubmats. I have crafted copies. I have created publicity schedules. Kaya I think na that experiences, that experience would be amplified more with the help of the future officers na makakasama ko, and with the help of, of course, the CASAn community. I believe that I can offer service that is inclusive, transformative, and overall helpful sa student body.
Are you pro or against on the strict dress code and grooming guidelines?
I am purely against grooming guidelines because of the innate gender because grooming guidelines often put genders in boxes, diba. If you’re under a faculty that has, that has strict grooming guidelines, I think you would know how it feels like to not be able to express yourself fully in the gender expression that you want to express, diba. And I think that’s really, hindi siya helpful para sa ating CASAns, hindi siya helpful para sa student body of the university as a whole because I think everyone should be able to express themselves accordingly. Pero if there are, you know, I understand na there should be grooming guidelines but I think it shouldn’t be limited by gender, it shouldn’t be limited sa kung anong box na gustong ipasok sayo ng administration. Yun lang po.
With an inclusion on your discussion about services a while ago, what are your platforms and how do you plan to put them into action?
So my first platform is CASA FORTIFY. It is a branding project, multimedia initiative siya para mas ma-amplify pa yung boses ng CASAns outside the university. Magkakaroon ng linkages with other student organizations sa ating mga larangan and magkakaroon talaga ng opportunities ang CASAns in how will they voice their creative venture with the guilds or with the organizations that they wish to join. Paano siya i-implement? Well, there would be three main projects na irerelease through CASA FORTIFY. So number one is the guild primers which will be in collaboration with the OVPEX, the Office of the Vice President of External Affairs. Yun yung paggagawa ng partnerships sa ibang organizations. Magkakaroon ng mas streamlined na process and of course mas maganda sa perception ng magiging ano natin, sponsors and partners. Number two would be portfolios. So yung portfolios naman, it would be in physical form and in video form so if ever magkaroon ng sponsorship or with an event, the EVP or AVP will be featured doon and the physical copy naman is for distribution sa mga univ-wide events.
And magkakaroon ng opportunity yung non-CASAns to hear what we have to say or know what we fight for, or what we advocate for. And mas magkakaroon ng linkages and connections yung UST CASA with non-CASAns and they will be enticed to work with us. Number three would be the profiles. Basically, this profiles would help give exposure to CASAns that participated in non, in univ-wide events para magkaroon sila ng chance to voice out what their creative process was, how UST CASA helped them, and why did they choose to participate in the event in the name of CASA. So I think all of these platforms would be really helpful in terms of giving more opportunities to the guilds, more opportunities to the talents, the skills and advocacies of CASAns who wish to share to the whole university.
So the second one is BOSESKOMM. So yung BOSESKOMM, it is a workshop that aims to basically linisin yun fog, linisin yung lente na kung saan malabo diba yung parang perception ng ibang tao sa AB Communication. That’s going to help in– we’re going to invite various speakers who views principles of Communication to voice out their advocacies and I think this would be a really good workshop for people, for CASAns of course, and the students who are interested in shifting to the AB Communication program or who are interested in joining the program once they enter college. Basically, it is a workshop that aims to teach you how to use the communication principles–so PR, media, graphic design, film, all of that, into a way on how to amplify your advocacy or what you're fighting for.
Do you have any concrete plans on how to follow-up with all of these platforms that you’ve just mentioned? How do you plan to put them into action essentially?
Well, CASA FORTIFY is made to collaborate with the various guilds that is made to create these materials and gagawin siya para magkaroon nga ng materials with the guilds and I think it’s a really good way to promote the latest guild, CASA Link, which is the Public Relations guild of the organization and implementation of course will be through production, through various means of printing, through various staffing din para magdistribute ng materials na to, and of course the creation of the materials itself, which like I said, be in collaboration with CASA Link. For BOSESKOMM naman, if the modality allows, of course I would fight for it to be held face-to-face. I would love for students to be able to participate in the workshop in an interactive way. I would love for them to be able to, to be able to engage with the various ways that they can voice their advocacy. So, for both of these, for both of these platforms, I really aim to introduce UST CASA as a transformative and a reinforced organization.
How can your subsequent platforms bring about a bigger change, bring about change, department-wide, and if applicable, university-wide as well?
I think this applies more sa CASA FORTIFY platform, my first platform. I think it can bring change per se in a way na makakatulong sa UST CASAns. For example, a CASAn, under CASA Retorika, hosting the Homecoming Walk. Or a CASAn under UST CASA performing an intermission under CASA Footworks in a univ-wide event. So I think ang pinaka-goal talaga ng CASA FORTIFY is to amplify the voices, amplify the talents of CASAns to other organizations outside UST CASA.
How can you make sure that the guilds’ brandings towards opportunities outside of CASA will be maintained in relation to your REINFORCED CASA: CASA FORTIFY?
Well of course, as a student leader, one of the things that I have to look for is sustainability, diba. I think these materials can be used for the long-run. I think these materials, of course ma-eevaluate sila if magkakaroon ng success or hindi magkakaroon ng, hindi siya nagclick with non-CASAns. And I think with those kinds of evaluations and sustainability, CASA FORTIFY can be an effective way to fortify the guilds’ brandings and reinforce CASA as a premier talents and advocacy organization po.
What is your approach for fostering harmony and camaraderie among the members of the organization to the Executive committee to enable effective and functional interactions as the person who will operate as the liaison between the said individuals?
Well as a P.R.O., of course my job is to maintain a harmonious relationship between the organization and its constituents, diba. So aside from of course creating materials or helping the student body be engaged in other activities, one of my responsibilities din is to maintain it. I would love for UST CASA, as a whole, to be connected from the Executive to the constituents itself. And of course, I would do my best to create meetings, to of course hear the concerns and the grievances of other CASAns and use my position to the best of its abilities to assist the UST CASA since service nga yung pinakauna kong goal as a P.R.O.
From a 1COM student, why would you not win and be elected in your respective position?
I think one of my flaws as a student leader is I am too much of a perfectionist. I mean, I would prefer working alone, sometimes in groupworks pero of course, with the Executive Board that I would be working with, of course with the partylist na gusto kong makasama yung partido KaCASA, I’ve learned of course to, the importance of collaboration. I’ve learned of course that this perfectionism can be used as a group. So, I don’t think that you shouldn’t not vote for me because of this. I don’t think that you shouldn’t vote for me for this, but I think that you should vote for me for the fact na humarap ako dito and I’m ready to face all of these negative connotations, all of these negative feelings for para sakin in terms sa perfectionism ko.
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.
