SC urged to reverse Cardema proclamation

MANILA, Philippines — Youth leaders filed before the Supreme Court yesterday a petition asking the SC to reverse a decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaiming Duterte Youth party-list Rep. Ducielle Cardema as a member of the House of Representatives.

The petitioners, led by Aunell Ross Angcos, filed a 48-page petition for review against the party-list group ­– represented by Cardema and the group’s founder and chairman, National Youth Commission commissioner Ronald Cardema – and the poll body.

They asked the SC to declare a minute resolution by the Comelec as void from the beginning since it was issued by the poll body in full session without its Second Division first resolving other petitions seeking the cancellation of Duterte Youth’s registration.

The petitioners said Duterte Youth it is not a duly registered party-list group under the law because its petition for registration was neither published nor went through a public hearing.

“That said proclamation was deceptively, deliberately and maliciously issued to assure Duterte Youth of a seat in Congress, bypassing a pending prejucial case where the evidence of Duterte Youth’s non-registration is not only very strong and apparent, but admitted by all parties and evinced by Comelec’s own record,” said the petitioners. The case remains unresolved.

The petitioners also sought the disqualification of Cardema, who substituted for her husband after he was disqualified for being too old.

Under the law, a youth sector party-list representative must be between 25 and 30 years old. Cardema’s husband is 34.

They also said two Comelec minute resolutions dated Aug. 28, 2019 allowed the Duterte Youth to submit its second substitute nominees almost three months after the May 13, 2019 deadline set by the poll body.