An official of the Commission on Elections has slammed the new set of nominees —led by Ronald Cardema—submitted by the Duterte Youth party-list a day after Cardema was disqualified by the poll body.
“His new list is [filed] under oath. This is another count of material misrepresentation,” Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said.
“It shows that Cardema has no respect for the authority of Comelec. He filed that new list a day after our resolution disqualifying him as representative was released,” she added.
Guanzon said she is not discounting the possibility that a petition will be filed against the new nominees of the Duterte Youth party-list.
Cardema’s wife, Ducielle Marie, was listed as the group’s second nominee. She was the original first nominee of the group but withdrew her nomination together with the four other nominees in favor of her husband.
Comelec earlier denied Cardema’s nomination due to misrepresentation.
In a 25-page decision, the poll body cited its previous ruling on Aratea vs. Comelec which canceled the certificate of candidacy of a certain Romeo Lonzanida for misrepresentation.
Several youth groups petitioned against Cardema’s nomination, saying the former NYC head, who was 34 years old before the May polls, attempted to deceive the poll body in claiming he was eligible even if the age qualification provided for a representative of the youth sector under the Party-List Law was limited to 25 to 30 years old.
Cardema countered the Duterte Youth party-list represented not only the youth, but also young professionals, which had no age limit.
But the Comelec dismissed the argument by pointing out that professionals could not be differentiated from the youth sector as the Duterte Youth constitution and by-laws did not define what a young professional was.