Bantay Presidente Takes the First Step towards Involvement

At the start of the school year, the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila or Sanggu, debuted one of their projects dubbed as “Bantay Presidente: The First 100 Days in Power.” This project, also called the BP100, is spear-headed by the Socio-Political Alliance of the School of Social Sciences and aims to give comprehensive reports on President Aquino’s performance and to raise awareness in the Ateneo community.

A lot of pressure was on the Sanggu, since this was their initial project. But in the end, their campaign proved to be successful. During the project’s stint in the months of July to October, it established itself as something that the student body can depend on by achieving its aims, reporting systematically and with credibility, and making itself accessible.

The project’s success is gauged primarily on how it was able achieve its objectives. Based on surveys given by the official publication of ADMU, Guidon, and Sanggu itself, around 80% of the students praised the BP100. This landslide of positive feedback from the student body from all Loyola Schools directly means that the project’s aim to raise awareness was accomplished. Also, the reports which are presented on a daily basis attained another aim of this project, which is to assess PNoy’s performance in his first months as president of the country.

The technicalities behind the project were properly organized by setting up committees which would focus on their respective issues. They were divided into teams dedicated to comprehensively report the following: Human Rights, International Relations, Economy, Land Reform, Governance, Education, and Health and Environment. This has greatly contributed to the success of the BP100 because through this framework, the readers were given clear and precise accounts on the issues dealt by the Aquino administration.

The grounds for the reports were very rational and credible. The Sanggu based its daily accounts on news articles from established news-giving bodies such as GMA, ABS-CBN, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Philippine Star. The statistics shown in the reports were based on SWS surveys.

With all that said, it is still unyielding for this project to be efficacious if the accounts or reports are not made accessible to the Ateneo community. Since this is the Internet generation, all reports were posted on the Web, making it easier for the readers to acquire them. The Sanggu created a website dedicated to the BP100, bantaypresidente100.tk, and simultaneously posted reports on different sites such as Facebook.

This project also employed different methods to gain publicity. Banners were all over the campus which featured a cartoonized picture of the president saying his trademark line, “Kayo ang boss ko.” Also, recycling bins that addresses the students’ satisfaction with the president were presented.  Students may put their bottles or cans to their corresponding answer, be it a yes, no, or neutral stand.

All in all, the Bantay Presidente project institutes itself as not only a comprehensive analysis of the president and the government as a whole, but also as an initiative towards participation from the students of the Ateneo. More projects of this kind should continue to grow in the school community, to help promote the value of awareness. Although awareness per se cannot totally change a country, the BP100 clearly demonstrates that it is the first step towards involvement.