The Magna Carta of Students’ Rights and Responsibilities for the Undergraduate Students of Ateneo de Zamboanga University (AdZU) was declared a “Failure of Elections” by the Ateneo Electoral Commission (AELECOM) on February 14, 2023, under Memorandum No. 2023-03.
The referendum failed to achieve the target of 55 percent Overall Voter Turnout (VTO) from the Ateneo student body during its referendum held on February 9 to 11, 2023, via Google Forms, as it only received 0.09 percent of VTO with total votes of 283 over 3,260 students.
A 0.55 percent VTO threshold of the student population is needed to determine the plausibility of majority votes per Article I Section 7 of the Second Amended Electoral Code.
The VTO from each academic organization is as follows: 0.06 percent VTO from Science and Information Technology Academic Organization (SITAO), 0.07 percent VTO from Nursing Academic Organization (NAO) and Management Academic Organization (MAO), 0.08 percent from Accounting Academic Organization (AAO), 0.17 percent from Liberal Arts Academic Organization (LAAO), and 0.20 percent from Education Academic Organization (EAO).
According to AELECOM, some students voted “no” for the Magna Carta because they “did not know what it was and did not care about it.”
The El Consejo Atenista (ECA) Office of the President and Office of the Ombudsman jointly petitioned RE: Referendum for the Magna Carta and the Postponement of General Elections on February 14, 2023, to the Judicial Council. However, another referendum cannot proceed within 30 days following the Declaration of the Failure of Elections (Referendum) per the Second Amended AELECOM Electoral Code Article IX Section 3-A.
The Judicial Council mandates the AELECOM to conduct a second wave of a referendum for the Magna Carta stated under En Banc Resolution 2024-02, released on February 19, 2023.
The second wave of the referendum for the advancement of the Magna Carta 30 days onwards after the declaration of the first referendum as a “Failure of Elections” and the extensive Magna Carta campaign both online and face-to-face before the conduct of the second referendum is mandated by the Judicial Council to the AELECOM. The campaign will be in full coordination with ECA officers. The Magna Carta seeks to protect undergraduate Ateneans against discrimination, equalize their right to quality Jesuit education and academic freedom, and empower them to be socially involved and vocal about issues concerning the university and community.
