NEWSBEAT # 4 – SUSG

Timothy Deo Libres, Vice President of the Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) states that the
SUSG constitution no longer applies to the current circumstances of the university during his speech at
the fifth regular session of the 33rd SUSG Student Assembly, October 15, at Science Complex 111.

Libres’ speech focused on two points; updates regarding the appointments of the justices of the SUSG
Judiciary Branch and of the semestral budget appropriations.

Libres first mentioned updates regarding the appointment of justices. He said that the SUSG President
has endorsed the names of the justices to the SUSG Assembly Committee on Appointments (COApp) on
October 5, 2023.

Christian Cual, College of Nursing representative and COApp chairperson said that endorsed names will
immediately act as justices after the adjournment of the fifth regular session while the submission of
their requirements is pending.

Furthermore, several chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the executive committees of the SUSG have
just been appointed during the fifth regular session.

Section seven, article twelve of the SUSG Constitution states that “The Judiciary, Independent
Committees, and other appointive positions of the SUSG shall be filled before the conduct of the
Founders’ Week Celebration of the University.”

The founder’s week celebration of the university opened on August 19, 2023. The 33 rd SUSG Student
Assembly, however, only had their first regular session on August 26, 2023.

“For the past 4 years, the previous administrations have attempted to appoint these individuals but have
unsuccessfully met the deadline. The past has put to show that these appointments still happen,” Libres
said.

Libres pointed out that this occurrence has been heavily influenced by the shift of the academic year
from June to August. Libres also stated that some of the provisions of the SUSG Constitution are “no
longer applicable to the present.”

In the comment section of a Facebook post by The Weekly Sillimanian (tWS), Princess Noriedelle Obeso,
a junior law student in Silliman University said, “No longer applicable? So does that mean that SUSG is
acting beyond what the provisions provide?”

“We still hold ourselves accountable for this one. While the SUSG Constitution establishes the rules,
providing a set of fundamental principles and rules that both the student government and the students
must abide [by], there is still a need for improvement and soon to be reflected in the revitalization of the
2021 SUSG Constitution,” Libres said.

The provisions in the 2021 SUSG Constitution stating the “fill[ing]” of appointive positions in the SUSG
before the founder’s week celebration were ratified in 2020, just after the COVID-19 pandemic
lockdown.

Since the lockdown, Silliman University’s academic calendar has shifted to starting the school year on
August.
There have been no proposals for amendments of the said provisions in the constitution ever since 2020.