Crowds gathered at the Thibault Grounds last February 1 for the official announcement of the winners of E-Votenista 2014.

Bahaghari won a landslide when it bagged the top three positions in the SAMAHAN Central Board, with Regel Kent Asuero as SAMAHAN President, Michael Zachary Leyson as Secretary-General and Allexy Flores as Treasurer.

Mariel Banawan (Bahaghari), Jeos Earl Casilac (Piglasapat), Miguel Ian Gabriento (Bahaghari), Anne Franchezka Macrohon (Piglasapat) and Kristina Vade Santos (Bahaghari), all of whom ran unopposed, won as the Computer Science Representative, Business and Management Representative, Engineering and Architecture Representative, Nursing Representative and Natural Sciences and Mathematics Representative, respectively.

On the other hand, Alexis Alberto (Piglasapat), Jessa Mae Suico (Piglasapat), Precious Kyrie Undag (Buklat) and Troy Stephen Vergara (Bahaghari) won as the Accountancy, Social Science, School of Education and Humanities and Letters Representative, respectively.

When asked about his thoughts regarding the results of the election, Asuero was happy about the high voter turnout compared to last year’s elections.

“For me, it’s something that we should be glad of as the voter turnout was kinda satisfactory compared last time.”

He also saw this year’s elections as a sign that the students are becoming more participative in university politics.

For Leyson, he thanked not just their supporters and voters but also each Atenean who voted in the election. He also thanked the voters for giving their trust to them.

“We would like to thank each and every Atenean who participated in the elections because they took part in the elections in making a difference in the Ateneo. And other than that, we would also like to thank them for giving their trust and confidence on us, the top three. We hope that we would be able to deliver what we have planned for SAMAHAN, through our platforms.”

On the other hand, Flores believed that their election is just the beginning and she takes it as a challenge for them for the next school year given the results.

“It doesn’t end here. Yun na nga sabi niya [Regel] na it’s actually a challenge for us sa SCB on what we can do about, you know, given na ganito ang result.”

Despite the jubilation, Asuero shared that they do not let themselves get excited about their win.

“We always tell ourselves that let us not get really excited with imagination. Because when reality kicks in, it will really slap us in the face. It’s really a big challenge.”

COMELEC Commissioner Maria Margarita Chua shared to Atenews that it was a challenge for the COMELEC to ensure the smooth flow of the election. Despite the technical glitches that occurred during the first day of voting and despite the change of dates of the election, she was happy because of the high turnout of this year’s election, which stood at 62.54 percent. She added that she did not even expect that the voter turnout would reach the 50 percent plus 1 quota needed to make the election results valid.