Tapat sees elections campaigns as an opportunity to address the student population. It is one of the few times when we are allowed to go room to room to talk about what we want for our school. This is why we work hard to formulate a General Program of Action (a real program, not just a list of specific projects) that takes into consideration what the previous SC has done and contributes to a long-term vision of a better society through student empowerment.

A campaign is education.

During training sessions and meetings and overnight planning for candidates, we focus on building skills and planning their respective GPOAs. We reserve the speech writing for the last week, when our candidates are ready to face their potential constituents with their heads held high, sure of their capability to serve once elected. More importantly, we wait until we are sure that they have a master plan to execute once elected.

Perhaps it's the reason why we're accused of working "for our party alone." Our insistence on implementing a program of action that we disseminated to the voters during campaign, that we consulted them on even before the filing of candidacy. We take this seriously.

A campaign is a promise.

Our campaigns are meant to tell people what we feel should be the school's direction. It hopes to "sell" a plan to students, trusting them to be discerning enough to tell whether a party and a candidate can really bring the goods. Because that is what a political campaign should be: an opportunity to present ideas. Hardly trapo politics.

We welcome debate. We welcome criticism. We welcome any challenge to our proposed program, or to our political philosophy, and we will answer all questions. But we cannot dignify unsupported, cowardly ramblings posted on the internet. Campaigns are not about begging. They're not about whining. They're not about alleging that the other guy did something that made us sad.

Campaigns are about ideas.

Ideas that have been refined by generations of student leaders spending time and effort thinking about, and acting on, the problems that beset students. Lofty goals that have been translated into concrete steps: a real platform, not a laundry list of activities. We owe this to the leaders who preceded us, who sacrificed sweat and tears to get us where we are today. We owe this to the leaders who will follow us, making sure each step we make is a step forward.

Our campaign is our legacy.

Every year we run the risk of losing, yet we take that risk knowing deep inside that the campaign we ran is a clean one and as close to ideal as possible. Focusing on ideas, avoiding personal attacks, and treating voters as intelligent adults who will vote based on the ideas that we present. Trusting them to make what we believe is the right choice.