Ateneo Student Judicial Court Ateneo de Manila University - Loyola Schools

Case No. _______________ IN THE MATTER OF PROVISIONS OF ATENEO COMELECS CAMPAIGN MANUAL REQUIRING CANDIDATES TO SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL THEIR CAMPAIGN PARAPHERNALIA CHRISTIAN I. DY Petitioner Versus ATENEO COMELEC Respondent To: The Honorable Magistrates of the Student Judicial Court, the humble petition of the petitioner above named.

PETITION

Ateneo Commission on Elections issued a campaign manual to candidates for this years General Elections. Certain provisions require candidates to submit their campaign paraphernalia for approval prior to their actual production and posting. As a student afforded with certain rights by the Magna Carta for Students Rights and as a candidate for the 2015 Sanggunian General Elections, I, CHRISTIAN I. DY (II- AB Economics-Honors Program) hereby petition the honorable Court to declare unconstitutional and consequently nullify these provisions. The following are arguments in favor of such resolution:

ARGUMENTS

Article IV, Section I of the Magna Carta for Students Rights state a Right against Prior Restraint. It is hardly conceivable to the petitioner that students shed this right the moment they agree to become candidates for election. The same provision of the Magna Carta states, Students shall have the right to express their views and opinions freely in a manner acceptable to the academic community. The power to approve or reject campaign material makes Ateneo COMELEC the sole determiner of which campaign materials are acceptable to the academic community. In fact, they can under certain provisions of the manual, prevent content from even reaching the academic community that will decide what is acceptable. Furthermore, granting COMELEC the power to approve or reject content may allow for such irregularities as the rejecting of all of one candidate or partys campaign materials, or the delaying of notice of approval to some candidates, to give other candidates an unjust advantage of time.

No. 1501 / 09-FEB-2015

The petitioner believes that COMELEC reserves the power to determine the form of campaigning. The petitioner believes however that COMELEC does not reserve the power to determine the content of the campaign. Inherent in the exercise of power to approve or reject content is the power to censor content, a power which, under the Magna Carta, no Ateneo institution reserves.

PRAYER

Wherefore, in the interest of our student democracy, it is respectfully prayed of the honorable Court that the provisions requiring candidates to submit paraphernalia for approval be declared unconstitutional and be consequently nullified. It is also prayed for that a Temporary Restraining Order on the implementation of said rules be issued until further discussion of the matter is made. Petitioner also prays for other reliefs that the Court may deem just under the established premises. Ateneo de Manila University, 7 February 2015

Submitted by

CHRISTIAN I. DY 2- AB Economics-Honors Program

christian.dy@obf.ateneo.edu