The Kalayaan Residence Hall Association House Council is still studying its participation to the University Student Council-initiated Manifesto of Unity Asserting Students’ Right to Dormitories.

The Manifesto was discussed during the first (informal) meeting of the new set of elected House Council officers held yesterday evening.

Some of the points were raised by the quorum regarding the Manifesto are as follows:

• It is unfair if the residents sign such a Manifesto without hearing the side of the Office of the Student Housing and the Office of Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs – University-administered offices involved in the Manifesto.
• The members of the Kalayaan Residence Hall Association cannot compare the previous Rules and Regulations Governing Residence Halls in UP Diliman with the one being used now, which as claimed in the Manifesto has caused grave violations and rights and welfare of dorm residents and aspiring dorm residents, as it is their first year in the University.

With the points stated above, the House Council decided to study the Manifesto further before taking pertinent actions.
The Manifesto was given to the House Council’s Vice-Chairperson for External Affairs for discussion and support by a University Student Council during an informal assembly of different dorm representatives held at Sampaguita Residence Hall.

For a copy of the entire Manifesto, check after the jump. Continue reading “Kalai House Council, studying participation to Manifesto of Unity Asserting Students’ Rights to Dormitories” »

Today marks another milestone in my life…

Two meetings are in store for me – my first and second meeting as a Vice Chairperson for External Affairs.

The first meeting in line is an ACD (Association of Concerned Dormitories) meeting at the Sampaguita Residence Hall this 4pm. I will be with the Kalayaan Residence Hall House Council and former Pisay SMC Student Government President Kiboy Tabada. We will be the representatives of Kalai.

Next in line is the 1st Kalai House Council meeting, a meeting with the House Council officers, Corridor Representatives and House Council candidates. The meeting will be held on Kalai – 7pm.

Weeeee, I’m so excited to represent Kalai for the first time.

Yesterday was the elections of the Kalayaan Residence Hall Association House Council. I was supposed to live-blog about it yesterday but I was too anxious and I knew no one cares about it.

The election process started at exactly 8am and ended by 8pm. It was a computerized election. The system used was the Halalan, an open-source software spearheaded by UnPLUG or the University of the Philippines Linux Users’ Group. The system ran on PHP on an Apache server.

Right after the elections, most of the candidates (including me) were excited of the results. Most of us stayed on the TV area as it was near the conference room (place where the elections took place) and the counter. We were waiting for the magic time, 10pm – scheduled time of release of results. While waiting, we watched the opening of the Beijing Olympics 2008. We were all looking for ways to calm ourselves down.

The clock struck the magic time – the results remained unannounced. About 10 minutes before the hour of 11, an exciting announcement was made. And it was… The announcement said, “the results of the elections will be announced in 15 minutes”. Our heartbeats were like drumrolls, even beating faster as a function of time.

Toink-toink-toink-toink-togoinks-toink-togoinks. Finally, the moment has come. Kuya Mike, my RA and an Elections Committee member, approached the gigantic television ceasing the Olympic spirit. The results were on his hands. Everyone seemed so eager to hear the results. And the winners were announced.

The results were announced from the lowest to the highest position. The anxiety rose as the positions level-up. Until it was my moment – it was the announcement of the winner for the Vice Chancellor for External Affairs. As I heard my blog’s domain name (Conrad Miguel), adrenaline rushed into my system. Yey, at last the once loser won.

I am now holding the second highest position in the Kalayaan Residence Hall Association House Council and the second highest position in the Basement Boys (our corridor). Kalai Life of more than 500 fellow residents are on our (the new house council) hands.

They chose me. 206 Kalai residents loves me – 216 chose either of my two opponents – 62 chose not to choose – almost 50 did not vote.

I won’t bore you longer, that’s all for now from Kalai’s Vice Chairperson for External Affairs! Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan!

Disclaimer: This post could be very boring for some, forgive me. I won’t stop myself from posting this as this is my blog anyway. I own it, I pay for it — and the sweetest part I earn from it.

Five days to go before the Kalayaan Residence Hall Association House Council Elections – four days left for campaign.

As I’ve said on my previous post, I am running for the position of Vice Chairperson for External Affairs. Some of the functions of the Vice Chairperson for External Affairs as stipulated in the Association’s Constitution are: to assume Chairperson duties in case of the Chairperson’s absence or disability to perform his/her duties; to represent Kalayaan Residence Hall Association on meetings, forums and other events that has direct participation to the Association and many more. It’s the second highest position in the Council, next to the Chairperson.

Last Friday to Saturday (9pm of Friday to 10pm of Saturday), we the candidates attended a grilling activity by the Election Committee. The grilling activity is a 1 vs Election Committee close-door activity). Each one of us were grilled for at least 30 minutes (some had it for more or less an hour). Waiting was like hell as only one candidate is grilled at a time. In my case, I waited from 9pm to about 5:30am. The fun part while waiting was that we had the chance to bond with other candidates — including our “enemies”! Wahehehe. But honestly, most of us did not take our “political enemyship” (what a term!!) personally. I won’t explain what happened inside the grilling room as I don’t want to spoil the experience to the next year’s candidates (who know’s they might read this!). The reactions to the grilling activity were diverse — some cried, some did not, some went crazy, etc. But to sum it up, it was very helpful. It made us realize a lot of things — practical things we should know in leading. Continue reading “Halalang Kalai” »