‘Heart’ makes history in UP student elections: First-ever transgender USC chair vows ‘change’
InterAksyon.com
March 2, 2012

Gabriel “Heart” Diño, an MS Applied Math student at the University of the Philippines Diliman, has been elected chairman of the student council of the State University’s main unit, becoming the first transgender to lead the influential student government.

The Philippine Collegian, the official organ of University of the Philippines, posted on Twitter that Diño, of the student party Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral para sa Panlipunang Katwiran at Kaunlaran (Alyansa), became the elected chair of the UP Diliman student council (USC) by late evening Thursday.

Alyansa itself dominated the student elections, “clinching the majority of seats in the UPD USC elections,” the Collegian reported. The party won 12 of 33 seats in the council, “including the positions of chair, six councilors, and five college representatives”.

Diño had campaigned on a platform of transparency and accountability in the student council, while also vowing to combat gender discrimination and fraternity-related violence. Born a male but proudly transgender, she said in an Alyansa statement in the week before Thursday’s elections: “I came here not only to speak about what changes we want in our University Student Council. I also stand before you to remind that you, yourselves, are the change this university and this nation needs.”

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