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USC and CSC election results out
OVCSA, UnPLUG organize a demo before the automated election.

  
 UnPLUG president Rystraum F. Gamonez explains to the USEB
 and CSEB reps how the Halalan software works.

After the successful automated UP Diliman University Student Council (USC) and College Student Council (CSC) elections on Feb. 24, results were out in record time.

According to the 2010 USC election results, the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND-UP) dominated the polls.  Rainier Astin “Rain” A. Sindayen won as USC Chairperson with 3,091 votes while Fermina Carmen “Amme” Agudo won as Vice Chairperson with 4,046 votes.

Meanwhile, the 12 new USC Councilors are: Marck Bryan “Chorva” A. David of Nagkakaisang Iskolar para sa Pamantasan at Sambayanan (KAISA), Kristine “Tin” C. Borja of Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral Para sa Panlipunang Katwiran at Kaunlaran (ALYANSA), Kristine Kamille “KKK” V. Kalingking of KAISA, Raphael Dominic “Nico” U. Ibaviosa of ALYANSA, Sarah Jane “Sarah” I. Elago of STAND-UP, Jemimah Grace “Gem” N. Garcia of STAND-UP, Dan Neil “Dan” Q. Ramos of STAND-UP, Jeanine Jerusha “Duday” C. Duran of STAND-UP, Jessica “Ezie” S. Mariazeta of STAND-UP, Richard R. Estrella of ALYANSA, Simoun Antonio “Simoun” M. Salinas of ALYANSA, and Marvee B. Dela Resma of KAISA.

The success of the 2010 USC and CSC elections was made possible through the use of the open-source software called Halalan.

Prior to the student elections, the software developers, in coordination withthe Office of Student Activities (OSA) headed by Dr. Oscar P. Ferrer and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs conducted a public demonstration of the Halalan software on February 10.

  
 Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Elizabeth L. Enriquez and
 three members of UnPLUG during the demo of the Halalan
 software at the Civil Engineering Laboratory.

First used campus-wide in the 2009 USC elections, Halalan automated the manual election processes of voting, counting and archiving. It was created by members of the student organization UP Linux Users’ Group (UnPLUG) Waldemar Bautista, Ralph Justin Arce, John Michael Bitanga, Vanessa Rose Castro, Wigi Vei Oliveros, Antonio Mari San Miguel, DJ Sison, Carlo Santos and Orly Tarun with Rystraum Fabe Gamonez as current president.

The software was introduced in the College of Engineering student elections in 2005 and was used in the next three years. By 2008, it was adopted by the College of Mass Communication, College of Business Administration and the School of Library and Information Science.

The open source software, which is secure and easy to use, has also been used by other institutions of higher learning in the Philippines and the United States.

To view the CSC election results, visit the url https://unplug.eee.upd.edu.ph/halalan/upd/gate/results. For inquiries, please email at rystraum@rystraum.com or jp@jpbernardo.com.


—Haidee C. Pineda