Act on threat vs Rowena Guanzon, Comelec urged

MANILA, Philippines — Officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) were urged yesterday to take action against a group that allegedly launched a smear campaign against Commissioner Rowena Guanzon.

Guanzon has revealed receiving threatening messages believed to be coming from the Duterte Youth party-list.

“I received this text, ‘Kapag inipit mo pa din kami at di pa din kami nakaupo ilalabas namin ang part two ng series mo at papakasuhan ka pa namin.’ Who do you think sent this? Obviously,” she posted on Twitter.

The sender threatened to file charges against Guanzon and air the second part of an apparent exposé against her.

Guanzon has been opposing the petition of former National Youth Commission chairman Ronaldo Cardema to become substitute nominee of the party-list group.         

She said it was the second time that she received threatening messages supposedly coming from the group.

The Duterte Youth party-list has yet to receive a certificate of proclamation due to pending petitions.

Guanzon earlier said the Comelec would not issue a certificate of proclamation to the group until the poll body resolves the disqualification case against Cardema.

“Comelec officials can’t afford to be silent lest they want to be harassed  and cowed into submission by the powers-that-be,” election watchdog Kontra Daya said.

Group convenor Danilo Arao said the poll body should protect its integrity and assert its independence from Malacañang, which the party-list group supports.

“The threats against Guanzon are desperate measures apparently made by the group of Cardema,” Arao said.

“The Comelec should publicly denounce the threats against Guanzon and decide once and for all to disqualify the Duterte Youth from the party-list election,” he added.