By Jan Andrei Elizalde | November 23, 203
The Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) Student Assembly officially appointed Hon. Kyle Balansag, former College of Law (CoL) representative, as this year’s prime justice of the SUSG Judiciary during its sixth regular session last Nov. 5.
Before his first term started, Hon. Balansag won the 2022 SUSG Elections under the Concerted Actions for the Upliftment of Student Endeavors (CAUSE) party and became a part of last year’s SUSG Assembly majority floor. He was also elected as the Committee on Audit chairperson.
Addressing his former affiliation with CAUSE party, Hon. Balansag said, “Absent any legal basis, there should be no reason for controversy.”
Should there be any allegations of partiality during his term as prime justice, he noted that “it must be proven with clear and convincing evidence.”
In response to the prime justice appointment, SUSG Assembly minority floor leader Rep. Miguel Amante said it surprised him when Hon. Balansag’s name came up as a prime justice appointee.
However, Rep. Amante also noted, “I trust in the current standard bearers (SUSG President and Vice President) that they made a good decision in their appointment [of Hon. Balansag], especially because it’s very much needed that the judiciary must remain unbiased and impartial in all cases given to [him].”
Hon. Balansag is a third-year student at SU-CoL, president of the SU Moot Court Society, and a certified public accountant.
He also graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in accountancy in 2019 at said university.
This is Hon. Balansag’s first time to be appointed into the SUSG Judiciary.
Plans as prime justice
Addressing his priorities as prime justice, Hon. Balansag said that “the Judiciary is working on the codification of the SUSG Rules of Court (ROC).”
The need for this ROC had been brought up in the previous administration, with former Prime Justice Earl Guen Padayao stating in a published column that “early appointments will give the justices time to fine-tune the [ROC].”
Considering that this school year is the first time that some judicial appointments were officialized in the first semester, Hon. Balansag added that there was an opportunity to codify the SUSG ROC earlier.
However, he noted that the ROC promulgated by the Supreme Court remains to have a suppletory effect in the meantime.
“To improve student awareness of the Judiciary’s operations, we are studying the appropriateness and viability of an SUSG Rules of Court which will be accessible to all,” he said.
While the judiciary has begun its operations, there are only four officially appointed justices as of writing; namely Hon. Emilia May Aurea, Hon. Arch Dan Michael Brodith, Hon. Christian Brodeth, and Hon. Precious Grace Valencia.
