ASAP-Katiupunan has always believed that the students of UP Manila deserve a student-council of principled student-leaders who will serve

and protect the interests and aspirations of the student-body and to always be at the side of the students and the masses we serve. The council is envisioned to be unwavering in the University and beyond its four walls to the nation and its basic sectors in order to solve its fundamental problems. ASAP Katipunan believes in the power of collective action; that there is strength in numbers, and that a singular clarion call would effectively drown out the myriad whispers of naysayers and countless contradictions. "Spreading malicious grapevine about a USC officer, raising her voice against an OSA staff, saying to admin the words "kaya namamatayan ang admin nyo eh," not sending a rep to an admin event, asking someone to picked lock of USC office [sic], inviting pubs to cover GAs, among others, are the alleged violations of USC Chair Zubiri." These alleged violations were, as listed above, were practically unheard of before their rather abrupt filing. Putting the questionable nature of their validity and how they were hastily put together aside, the fact that they were exposed and hurled in a single meeting alone casts a shadow of doubt on the true intent of these proceedings. The main rationale of these clearly premeditated attacks is clear. It is a such shame that some of the duly elected student-leaders put their personal ambitions and party politics ahead of their sworn mandate to serve the university. We condemn such shallow maneuvers and personality politics. In a time when the university and this nation needs its ascendancy, authority and unity more than anything else is exactly the time when some members of the UP Manila University Student Council choose to resort to dirty politicking, railroading official procedures and ignoring due process altogether. Of all the pressing issues of the University and of this nation that were upon us in this past semester, such as the disguised persistence of tuition fee deadlines and Forced LOA, the abrupt changing of the security guard agency, professors denied tenure, the approval of a P1.43 billion budget cut, fattening anomalous pork barrel, buffeting monsoon winds, militarization of UP campuses, the Zamboanga skirmishes, human rights violations at the Hacienda Luisita and elsewhere, and the recent earthquake in the Visayas, to name a few; why be seemingly selective and preferentially choose a relatively petty issue whose own basis is very subjective and insubstantial to begin with? This council needs to heighten the discourse and prove itself stronger than the individual personal ambitions and political leanings which comprise it, but instead some members stubbornly choose to undermine its own integrity, akin to chopping off its own head, so to speak; making allegorical mountains out of mole hills and shooting the council in its own metaphorical foot. The mandate of the Student Council is from the students. Therefore, their best interest should be put first and foremost, above political aspirations and propaganda. There is a reason why it's called a "representation" and not any other name. Any resolutions the council makes must be truly reflective of the collective decision or consensus of their constituents. The student body deserves transparency and due process that, apparently, was not followed and railroaded. The students, having elected you to your respective positions, deserve to know. We deserve your apology. We deserve more than this mudslinging. We deserve a change in this brand of campus leadership. We ardently hope that these discrepancies and transgressions do not repeat themselves, and that this issue, and others like it, is resolved in the most professional, objective and prompt manner possible. May these be done always with the interests, genuine representation and common good of the student body, and by extension, those of the basic sectors and oppressed masses of society whom we are all sworn and indebted to serve.

With all this being said, this is a call for moral regeneration and unquestioned unity in these trying times when the nation depends on us more than ever. These divisive politics, personal attacks and dirty tactics do nothing else but pit us students against each other and ruthlessly dwell on differences, instead of common ground which needs to be tapped in order to truly live up to the title of being iskolar ng bayan, selfless for the welfare of the toiling Filipino masses and resilient in the struggle for genuine, radical social change.. More than the endless bickering and banter and beyond the meaningless friction and factions, the student-body needs its Council to be their unified voice and unequivocal vanguard. The nation needs its scholars to help solve its deeply-rooted and systemic problems. Until the matters truly worthy of discussion and action are brought to forefront, we will remain vigilant. We will expose and we will oppose.

ASAP-KATIPUNAN | Alternative Students' Alliance for Progress- Katipunan ng mga Progresibong Mag-aaral ng Bayan October 2013