Buklod Atenista goes 'external' this year

The 30th Buklod Atenista held May 27 to June 1 at the Ateneo de Zamboanga saw reforms and plans in line with the alliance’s move to “externalize” the efforts of the 5 Ateneo student governments.

 

Six representatives from Ateneo de Manila University were present during the National Leaders Summit of Buklod Atenista. They were Dan Remo (4 Ab Histo), Ray Gomez, (2 BS ME), Micha Aldea (4 BS health Science), Tadeo Chua (4 BS LM), RJ Dimla (3 AB IS), and Cate Sison (4 BS/AMF).

 

Buklod Atenista is the alliance of the five student governments of the five Ateneo universities nationwide: Ateneo de Zamboanga, Ateneo de Davao, Ateneo de Naga, Xavier University/ Ateneo de Cagayan, and the Ateneo de Manila.

 

During the summit, the student governments agreed to discuss actions on various political issues— from lobbying for certain administration bills to joint efforts of all student councils— to become “more politically relevant.”

 

According to Ray Gomez, Ambassador to Buklod Atenista, the congress discussed five issues, namely, Freedom of Information Bill, Anti-mining law, Bangsamoro, Crowd sourcing, and the Moro History and Culture Act. The alliance eventually decided to support the Moro History and Culture Act and the Freedom of Information Bill.

 

The move of Buklod Atenista to tackle external issues was initiated by Cate Sison, outgoing Buklod Atenista Secretary General. She proposed that aside from discussing internal issues within the five Ateneos, the alliance should also discuss matters of national importance.

 

"As five Ateneo schools, we have so much more potential than just to fix stuff internally. This year, we tackled things outside the Ateneo. Specifically, five house bills whether we support and how we support them,” Gomez said.

 

The five-day summit gathered around 30 delegates from the 5 Ateneos. During the second day, Fr Albert Alejo, SJ talked about the Bangsamoro culture. The third to fifth days were designated to sessions where they discussed the five political issues.  “As an alliance, we will collectively research together, how we can support the bill. Then we will come out with modules for implementation in the five schools,” Dan Remo, President of the Sanggunian ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila, said.

 

He explained that Sanggu officers will be the first to study the plans after which they will be passed on to the student body.

 

"After ma-accomplish 'yung second step, the third step is to lobby together. Our vision is simultaneous. When it becomes a law, we will eventually be the watchdog,” Remo added.

 

“In Buklod Atenista, nakita ko yung perspectives from different Ateneo schools. And I saw the potential with what we can do as one Buklod. Kitang kita na kahit magkakaiba tayo, sobrang saya pa rin nila kasama. Even though magkaiba in terms of culture, traditions and values, we still meet at one point as Ateneans,” Gomez also said.

 

Remo said that the summit was a good opportunity to study how the students can be true men and women for others. “Compared to the other Ateneo schools, we do not have the time to appreciate what we do have. In some schools for example they worry about their security, getting to school, or in some universities they worry about the state of their lockers whether or not they would fall if you put your books in, while we worry about our parking, not having enough time from building to building. It really put things into perspective. And I guess, we as Ateneo de Manila students and we as the Sanggunian are really challenged to respond to the call to being men and women for others.”

 

The mid-year conference of Buklod Atenista will be hosted by Ateneo de Naga and the next National Summit will be held in the Ateneo de Manila.

Press release and photo from Ateneo de Manila University