Guanzon, Cardema swap raps

MANILA, Philippines — Retired Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Rowena Guanzon and National Youth Commission chairperson Undersecretary Ronald Gian Carlo Cardema have filed charges against each other.

Guanzon, accompanied by her lawyer, filed charges of libel and unjust vexation before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office yesterday morning.

“This is the surprise I was talking about on Twitter. I am filing a complaint for libel against Ronald Cardema, who is a government official,” she said in a livestream on her Facebook account.

Guanzon, a substitute nominee of the Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) party-list, said she sued Cardema in response to the latter’s attacks against her.

Cardema, during a recent Pandesal Forum, claimed Guanzon forced all P3PWD nominees to resign so that she could sit as the party-list group’s first nominee in the House of Representatives.

The Comelec has approved Guanzon’s entry as the party-list’s first nominee.

Guanzon’s party-list used the precedent established by Duterte Youth, which Cardema chairs, in 2019. Back then, she expressed opposition to petitions that would have allowed the proclamation of Cardema as his party-list’s first nominee. He was later disqualified.

Guanzon said Cardema should be punished for lying in public. She also questioned if Cardema has paid his taxes.

“I paid P1.5 million in taxes last year. How much did you pay?” she said.

Guanzon said she will also file a case against Cardema before the Office of the Ombudsman for violating the code of ethics of public officials and employees.

Illegal substitution?

Cardema and his wife, Duterte Youth party-list Rep. Ducielle Marie Cardema, filed a petition yesterday asking the Supreme Court (SC) to stop Guanzon from occupying a House seat.

Cardema and Ducielle, who is also the vice chairperson of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, filed a 24-page urgent petition for certiorari, with a prayer for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order and a motion to conduct a special raffle.

They were accompanied by their lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio. Guanzon filed a petition with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines on June 10 to have Topacio disbarred over his alleged defamatory remarks against her.

The Cardemas also named the Comelec, House and P3PWD and its nominees as respondents.

Alleging that there was an illegal substitution of P3PWD party-list nominees, the Cardemas asked the SC to annul the Comelec resolution approving the substitution and to direct the poll body to refrain from issuing a certificate of proclamation to the new set of nominees.

The Cardemas also asked the SC to order the House to refrain from allowing Guanzon and the new nominees to occupy a seat while their petition is pending.

They claimed there were clear violations of the Comelec’s rules on party-list substitution, which should have been done before the May 9 elections.

They also alleged that there were violations of the anti-graft law and the code of ethics for public officials and employees, saying the Comelec’s approval of the substitution was done “with undue haste.”

The P3PWD’s original nominees resigned from their nomination on June 14 and the party-list group filed certificates of nomination for a new set of nominees on the same day.

The Comelec approved the substitution the next day.

Guanzon said the matter is moot but that she would answer the Cardemas’ petition. – Janvic Mateo