POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

ELECTION CODE

Rule 1. Name
Section 1. Name. This code shall be known as the 2021 Philippine Society of
Mechanical Engineers – Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Student Unit Election Code and shall be called briefly as the 2021
PSME-PUPSU Election Code.

Rule 2. Declaration of Role, Functions, and Power

Section 1. Role Declaration. The Mechanical Engineering students shall
recognize the role of the Commission on Election (COMELEC) to
conduct a peaceful, orderly, and professional mannered election of the
next set of PSME-PUPSU officers.

Section 2. Composition of Commission on Election. The COMELEC shall be

composed of fifth year graduating students. However, in case there are
no available, composition of the COMELEC shall come from the
members of MECB.

Section 3. The Commission on Election shall have the following powers and
functions:
a) Enforce and administer all rules regulated to this code;
b) Facilitate all throughout the election period, from the time of Filing
of Candidacy up to the declaration of the new set of officers;
c) Issue Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) to the aspiring candidate;
d) Accept and evaluate the candidate’s CoC;
e) Reject or revoke the candidate’s CoC;
f) Disqualify a candidate upon verification of an electoral protest;
g) Perform such other functions necessary to the effect of an honest,
free, and orderly election, and
h) Serve as the Board of Canvassers

Rule 3. Secrecy
Section 1. The COMELEC shall be bounded by the rules on secrecy, and therefore
shall not indulge any information, specific and/ or general, regarding
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

the parties that have already filed their candidacy. This also applies to
the incumbent officers and advisers of PSME-PUPSU.

Rule 4. Election Period

Section 1. The COMELEC shall be able to draft and finalize this Code for seven
(7) working days.

Section 2. Election Period shall begin at the time the COMELEC Chairman
release a copy of this code, through the MECB Facebook Messenger
Group Chat. Election Period shall end at the time the newly elected
officers are declared, given that there are no pending electoral protests.

Rule 5. Requirements for Filing Certificate of Candidacy

Section 1. Each Candidate shall have the following requirements:
a) Duly accomplished Certificate of Candidacy form;
b) Curriculum vitae;
c) Soft Copy of registration card;
d) General Plan of Action of the Party;
e) Resignation approval from other organization that they belonged to
(if running for an executive position);
f) Resignation letter if incumbent officer of PSME-PUPSU or a
homeroom officer; and
g) An Endorsement letter from a Professor in the Department (if
running for an executive position).

Section 2. Each Candidate shall have the following qualifications:

a) Shall be an officer of the organization or a homeroom officer with at
least six (6) months of term;
b) Shall be a member of any sub-organization of Philippine Society of
Mechanical Engineers – Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Student unit (PSME-PUPSU);
c) Must be enrolled on the 2nd semester of the Academic Year 2020-
2021;
d) Must be a bona fide ME Student without any record of misbehavior
or misconduct towards the ME Department and the University
itself; and
e) Must have access to a stable internet connection.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

Rule 6. Filing of Candidacy

Section 1. Issuance of Certificate of Candidacy. A candidate may download a
blank copy of CoC form that will be posted on the official facebook page
of PSME -PUPSU and on the MECB Facebook Messenger group chat.

Section 2. The following procedure shall be observed upon filing of CoC:

a) The filing of CoC shall last for three (3) days. The COMELEC shall
set the date of filing of CoC. Filing of CoC shall not be extended
unless otherwise a candidate filed for extension and approved by
the COMELEC;
b) Only the President of the Party can submit the CoC Requirements
of their party. If the aspirant is an independent candidate, he or she
can directly submit his/her CoC requirements;
c) No late applications shall be accepted once the CoC of the Party or
the Independent Candidate has been filed;
d) The COMELEC will only consider as a Partylist when at least seven
positions have been taken, and formally submitted the CoC
Requirements;
e) Candidates shall be required to attend the online screening that will
last for three days. The schedule of screening for each position shall
be announced by the COMELEC.
f) Candidates who have failed to pass the evaluation shall not be
allowed to run for any position for this election. Candidates who
have failed to appear on the oral screening shall be deemed to have
failed the said evaluation.
g) Candidates who have failed to pass the evaluation shall not be
allowed to be appointed to any vacant position in PSME-PUPSU.
h) The schedule shall be followed strictly. Failure to do so means
cancellation of application.
i) All CoC requirements shall be sent to
comelecpsmepupsu@gmail.com.

Rule 7. Withdrawal of Certificate of Candidacy

Section 1. Should a candidate wish to withdraw his candidacy, he/she can
submit a formal letter of withdrawal of candidacy addressed to the
COMELEC.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

Section 2. A candidate can send a letter of withdrawal from the day that he/she
filed up to the last day of online campaign period or before the Miting
de Avance.

Section 3. A candidate that withdrawn his/her candidacy shall not be allowed to

be appointed to any position/s.

Rule 8. Positions
Section 1. A candidate may apply for one of the following positions:
a) President
b) Vice President for Internal Affairs
c) Vice President for External Affairs
d) Vice President for Technical Affairs
e) General Secretary
f) Assistant Secretary
g) Treasurer
h) Auditor
i) Business Manager
j) Public Relations Officer
k) Fifth-Year Level Representative
l) Fourth-Year Level Representative
m) Third-Year Level Representative
n) Second-Year Level Representative

Section 2. Only incoming Junior and Senior Students shall be allowed to run for
an executive position, provided that they follow the revisions on the
Rule 5 of this code. A Junior student shall be an incoming third-year
student, while the senior student shall be an incoming fourth-year or
fifth-year student for the 1st semester of Academic Year 2021 – 2022.

Section 3. Students of any year level may run for the positions of General
Secretary up to Public Relations Officer, provided that they follow the
revisions on the Rule 5 of this code.

Section 4. Only incoming student of a particular level shall be allowed to run for
the Year Level Representative of the same year level.

Rule 9. Paralegal
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

Section 1. Role Declaration. A Paralegal shall be the middle man of the

candidate and the COMELEC. Queries of the party or independent
candidate/s shall be brought to by the Paralegal. COMELEC is only
restricted to communicate with the Paralegal, within the election
period.

Rule 10. Campaign Materials

Section 1. The following are the set regulations for materials and methods for
campaign to the approval of the COMELEC:
a. Online Campaign. The use of social media for campaign purposes
shall be allowed to but limited only on Facebook.
b. All campaign materials shall be approved by the COMELEC.
c. All partylist are allowed to make facebook page for their campaign
paraphernalia.
d. Individual facebook posting of their campaign materials are also
allowed.
e. COMELEC shall receive a copy of the Partylists’ Campaign Materials
that will be posted on the Official Facebook Page of PSME-PUPSU.

Rule 11. Campaign Period

Section 1. The following shall be observed during a virtual room to room
campaign:
a) Virtual Campaign shall be conducted via Google Meet or Zoom.
b) Official Schedule for the campaign shall be disseminated by the
COMELEC once the campaign period started. Paralegal shall be
informed accordingly.
c) Campaign Materials to be used for the campaign shall only be those
that have been approved by the COMELEC.
d) Online Campaign by the third party such as the professors,
students, and other organizations are allowed, given that the
COMELEC is not accountable for such.

Section 2. Miting de Avance shall be conducted on the last day of campaign

period via Zoom that will be broadcasted via Facebook Live.

Section 3. Miting de Avance will be conducted even if no party is formed and only
independent candidate will run in this election.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

Rule 12. Gross Misconduct

Section 1. The COMELEC shall not tolerate any gross misconduct against any
member of parties, students, PUP ME Faculty and staff, and against
the COMELEC. Doing so shall lead to investigations and if the
complaint is proven true, the accused shall be penalized.

Rule 13. Penalties

Section 1. The following set of penalties shall apply to any violation of the
provision of this code:
a) First Offence – Warning via email
b) Second Offence – Warning via MECB
c) Third Offence – Disqualification

Rule 14. Election Period

Section 1. The COMELEC shall provide an official google form link to which the
voters shall choose the name of the candidate they are voting for.

Section 2. Guidelines for the determination of valid and invalid votes shall be
released by the COMELEC at least three (3) days before the election.

Section 3. Only the official and updated email address from the class list and
student number must be used by the voters. The student number and
the email addressed sent t the COMELEC shall be the determinant if
the voter is a bona fide ME Student.

Section 4. No student number and no updated email address, no ballot policy

shall be strictly implemented.

Section 5. Only the voters of the same year level can vote for their year level
representative.

Section 6. A block vote is possible only from the Presidential Candidates up to

the P.R.O.

Section 7. If a voter does not wish to vote for any candidate of a particular
position, he/she shall vote for abstain.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

Rule 15. Canvassing of Votes

Section 1. The COMELEC shall serve as the Board of Canvassers for the PSME-
PUPSU Election. Canvassing shall be done immediately after the voting
processes across the entire populace of ME Students had been done.

Rule 16. Watchers

Section 1. Each party shall be allowed to have a maximum of two (2) poll
watchers during the conduct of voting canvassing. Meanwhile, an
independent candidate shall have 1 (one) representative as his/her poll
watcher.

Section 2. A watcher shall be inside the meeting room once the canvassing of
votes started.

Section 3. The Watcher shall be allowed to counter check the number of votes
during the canvassing period.

Section 4. Watchers have the right to update the party/independent candidate

regarding the result of the election during the canvassing period.

Rule 17. Voiding of Ballot

Section 1. An online ballot shall be considered void if:
a) A voter voted more than one (1) candidate in any position.
b) A voter left a blank vote in any position.
c) A voter submitted a vote via Google form multiple times.
d) A voter used an unofficial email for voting.
e) A voter has at least three (3) typographical error with his/her
student number.

Rule 18. Proclamation and Post-Election

Section 1. Proclamation shall be done right after resolving the pre-proclamation
protest.

Section 2. If there is only one candidate for the vacant position, the candidate
must obtain a majority vote – at least 70% of all the ME votes, for
him/her to be proclaimed as the winner. Otherwise, the position is
declared vacant.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

Section 3. If the candidate lost from abstain, he/she shall not be allowed to be
appointed in any position of PSME-PUPSU.

Section 4. The President-elect has the power to appoint in any vacant position
for as long as the appointed is qualified to fill in the vacant position in
accordance with the provision on Rule 5 of this code.

Section 5. If the President-elect fails to appoint a qualified PSME-PUPSU

Member, the turnover ceremony shall not be done yet until he/she has
appointed a qualified member for any vacant position/s.

Done at the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers – Polytechnic

University of the Philippines Student Unit Office, PUP Engineering and
Architecture Building, NDC Compound, Anonas corner Pureza Street, Santa
Mesa, City of Manila, 1016, Philippines, this fourth day of August in the year of
our Lord, two thousand and twenty-one.

SO, ORDERED.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS –

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES STUDENT UNIT
COMMISION ON ELECTION

Mark Erwin P. Malate Mikaella Vanessa M. Eclevia

Chairman Co-Chairman

Armando B. Capariño Jr. Joshua F. Granada

Comelec Member Comelec Member

Jeimarie Barairo Ar-jio Antonio

Comelec Member Comelec Member