The Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila, the sole autonomous government of the student body, as an institution that is Filipino in orientation and as an institution grounded on the principles of representation and participatory democracy, in recognizing the current context of our country and the potential of the 2010 national elections has been and continues to be committed in engaging the students towards election-related activities.

      At the start of the year, the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral has committed itself in the endeavors of the Ateneo Task Force 2010. In fulfilling this mission, the Sanggunian initially began efforts geared towards Voters’ Registration such as the COMELEC Satellite Registration and the Reg2Vote Trips in order to ensure a sizable amount of participants, particularly from the Ateneo youth in May 2010. Currently, the Sanggunian is in the phase of Voters’ Education, providing avenues such as the Sabay sa Bayan among other political forums, Blue Vote for agenda building, and candidate profiling activities in order to help the student body discern their role in this pivotal event. All the aforementioned phases shall lead to Voters' Mobilization activities such as the Buklod Atenista Congress, the Alternative Class Program, the Political Party Fair and the Multi-Sectoral Mock Elections in the coming months.

      In line with its current Voter’s Education and Voter’s Mobilization efforts, the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral sees it fit that an agenda framed by its constituents be at the foundation of all upcoming election-related efforts. Truly, an Ateneo youth agenda and any further election-related activity can be best assessed through methods of consultation that speak directly of the students’ perspectives, values, knowledge and personal experiences about pressing national issues. Recognizing the importance of both necessity and relevance of an issue to the student, the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral therefore deems it necessary to have a pulse on what 2010 agenda its constituents value as well as prioritize before further engaging the candidates and the elections.

      As such, Blue Vote 2010 was established by the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral to create an avenue for the students to be involved in creating a 2010 agenda as one Ateneo community. Blue Vote essentially seeks to identify the most common issues close to the students, the output from which will serve as the foundation for further projects by Ateneo Task Force 2010. Salient points from Blue Vote will be used in crafting the Ateneo Youth Agenda during the Buklod Congress; voter profiles from Blue Vote will be used for commitment building during the Alternative Class Program; the general Blue Vote outputs will serve as baseline data for further political education modules; and the practice of critical thinking will all significantly contribute to voter’s mobilization activities. By providing substantive data from the perspective of the students and by promoting an issue-based culture of elections, Blue Vote will be at the heart of the Sanggunian’s succeeding efforts to deliver its commitment of being at the forefront of the 2010 election efforts.

      Given the importance of Blue Vote 2010, The Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral therefore invites the students to take part in this project by
            • Filling up the blue vote ballot from December 9-18, 2009
            • Attending voters education projects both inside and outside of school
            • Appealing to others to participate in the elections in any way they can
            • Being aware of issues concerning the country
            • Assessing the value and importance of one’s vote
            • Reflecting upon the spirituality of voting, and
            • Praying for a peaceful and honest electoral process

      The Sanggunian hopes that through this effort the student body will not only be aware of the significance of the upcoming elections but also realize that critical thinking and proactive engagement are keys to national progress . Blue Vote 2010 seeks to take part in promoting such practice, and the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-Aaral looks forward to the student body’s favorable response.

AMDG.