Youth leaders oppose Duterte Youth rep proclamation

YOUTH leaders have vowed to contest before the Supreme Court the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proclaim Ducielle Cardema as representative of the Duterte Youth Party-list to the House of Representatives.

"An act as patently wrong and as brazen as this simply cannot go uncontested. Thus, we are ready to contest this illegality before the Supreme Court as soon as the Comelec releases its decision," said lawyer Emil Maranon, who represents the youth leaders, in a statement on Friday, September 25, 2020.

"We will also simultaneously file a quo warranto case before the HRET (House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal) to unseat Cardema, who will occupy a party-list seat despite not representing any registered party-list organization," he added.

The statement comes after Comelec chairman Sheriff Abas confirmed on Thursday, September 24, that the poll body is already planning to proclaim Cardema within the week.

This is despite the opposition of youth leaders Reeya Magtalas, Abigail Tan, Raainah Punzalan, and Aunell Angcos, to Cardema's proclamation.

They are also questioning the legality of Duterte Youth’s accreditation with the poll body.

Maranon said they were confident that their would-be petition will be successful if only the authorities will look at it objectively.

"If the law were just to be followed, we are very confident that we can easily undo and reverse this," said Maranon.

Maranon said they believe that the Comelec’s approval of Cardema's nomination and proclamation was illegal from the beginning.

"This act by the Comelec en banc is contrary to all its existing rules and regulations, and in utter disregard of all applicable legal provisions," he said.

"This is easily the most unconstitutional act ever done by the Comelec in its 80-year history," he added.

Earlier, the petitioners alleged that Duterte Youth failed to comply with the constitutional provisions of publication and hearing requirements for partylist groups, thereby making it an unregistered organization while Cardema is representing a "non-entity”. ---(HDT/ SunStar Philippines)