Less than three weeks ago, I was asked by my co-student council member if I would like to go to Cebu for a conference of UP student councils, since the 4th year SC members could not come due to their Special Studies. I told him that I was going to ask permission from my parents, but honestly, I was not too thrilled about the idea since it's a "business" trip, and I'm already having my semestral break. Surprisingly, my parents said it was okay (and Cristal's too, knowing that I would be going). I left for Cebu on October 21, Friday and I just got home this morning (though I should've been home yesterday).
Definitely, I have no regrets going to Cebu this weekend.
The General Assembly of Student Councils (or GASC) is held every year, usually twice but can be more than twice if the need arises. It brings together all the Student Councils from all University of the Philippines campuses. It is not just some meeting wherein all the SCs plan projects or whatsoever, but more importantly, the GASC reviews and amends the Codified Rules of Student Regent Selection (CRSRS) before the 2nd meeting of the GASC, which is the actual selection of our Student Regent (SR).
Just a Point of Information (OMG... hehehe), the Student Regent is the representative of the student body to the Board of Regents, which runs the whole UP system. I learned upon reading the CRSRS, just a few days prior to the GASC, that an SR's job is so hectic that s/he actually is strongly recommended to file a leave of absence. But anyway, I learned from all of this that the SR is very important.
The revision of the CRSRS uses Parliamentary procedure, which I don't have an idea of. If I can remember it right, we might have had that kind of debate back in high school, but I was never good at it and it seems different from what I've witnessed during the CRSRS. Fortunately, Gian, the Chairperson of the Nursing Student Council, lent us a copy of concise explanations of the Parliamentary procedure based on the Robert's Rules of Order.
It says that "Parliamentary law is a system of maintaining order in organizations. It provides an approved and uniform method of conducting meetings in a fair, orderly, and expeditious manner." Hehehe... yeah, right. What happened on Saturday and Sunday was almost nowhere near orderly (actually, even fair).
And so, I say that it is the greatest debate I've ever seen. I've already heard from Donn Mc, a member of the UPM-USC, that the GASC can get very dirty. And I indeed witnessed what he meant. I can just imagine how dirtier can Congress and Senate meetings get. For example, someone makes a motion. Instead that this motion be voted upon by dividing the house (if a concensus is not reached), some people would object and object and object for the nth time to divide the house, even if it is soooo obvious that there are 2 sides existing in the assembly. Instead, they would do everything in their power to make you withdraw your motion.
There was a time last Saturday that two people were already hogging the microphone to themselves because the two were having a great time debating on something. The presiding officer couldn't even do anything. I can't even understand them anymore since they were speaking, or rather, shouting, right after another.
And what's really frustrating (but actually funny  ) is that we went to Cebu, hoping to come up with a revised CRSRS, but ended up just amending the HOUSE RULES. It would be such a looooong story if I narrate everything that happened, and so I would not put it here, but I could tell the story personally.
The GASC also became somewhat a soiree, not strictly speaking an evening party, but a meeting of acquainted and unacquainted people. I knew no one but Cristal, of course, and Donn Mc, whom we just formally met a few days before the GASC to brief us on what's going to happen. Before I knew it, I was rubbing elbows and shaking hands with UP student leaders. And being with them, watching them speak during the deliberation of the House Rules, made me feel extremely stupid. All I did was listen and make a vote if needed (but you have no idea how much that vote counts, so I guess that's still signifcant, hehehe). I thought that maybe it came with experience, as some of them are not first-timers in the GASC, which is why I would like to be in the assembly next year (assuming that I run for SC again and I can convince my groupmates to do our SS without me for 4 days at the most). Maybe I can finally get to make my own points of orders or privileged speeches. And of course, I would like to meet again my colleagues from the different UP campuses.
Even though I am excited to attend the next GASC (which will be this November to resume with the revision of the CRSRS itself, FINALLY), I also fear that the next meeting will much more "brutal".
Kudos to the silently-formed "alliance". Congratulations to us all for making a milestone in GASC history. I look forward to having caucuses with you guys again  .
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