UP student council head asks Miriam to leave students alone; polls on Corona to go on
InterAksyon.com
March 29, 2012

MANILA, Philippines – With her colorful language and witty pick-up lines, Sen. Miriam Santiago is usually a favorite of the UP crowd, but her idea of stopping surveys on the trust ratings of impeached Chief Justice Renato C. Corona has caused the state university’s student council head to draw the line, with a plea: “Please leave the students alone.”

The Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) declared on Thursday it will push through with conducting more surveys on Corona’s trust rating in different colleges and universities in the country.

Santiago had more than once denounced the conduct of such surveys, at the floor of the Senate, which has been convened as an impeachment court since January 16. The court went on a six-week break until May 7. Meantime, the results of surveys by professional pollsters have been published in recent days.

The UP’s SCAP released last March 26, 2012 a survey on Corona’s trust rating among students from five different colleges and universities. The survey, patterned after a similar survey conducted in the University of the Philippines (UP) – Diliman by the UP Paralegal Society, revealed a strong distrust of Corona among students.

SCAP Secretary General Gibby Gorres said the success of the surveys was met with positive reaction from student councils and governments from different colleges and universities in the country.

“Instead of being deterred by fears that the surveys might be used for partisan purposes, many students in fact requested for such surveys to be conducted in their own schools. Many of them wanted their voices and opinions on the impeachment to be heard. The survey is one way to give the point of view of people whose interests are at stake in this process but who otherwise would not be heard,” Gorres explained.

According to Gorres, the survey was one way for the students to express their opinion and assessment of the current impeachment trial of Corona.

“We believe that the survey has helped in bringing the impeachment trial closer to the students. It has become an invaluable tool in ensuring that the impeachment trial is indeed a political exercise in the sense that the public is also an interested party to the trial. Instead of being passive actors, the students become involved in this important proceeding by learning from it and forming their own opinion about it,” according to Gorres.

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