MANILA, Philippines — A progressive youth group on Wednesday demanded that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) immediately decide on the case of former National Youth Commission chairperson Ronald Cardema.
Raoul Manuel of the National Convener of Youth Act Now Against Tyranny said that it has already been a week since the Comelec proclaimed the winners of the midterm polls, but has yet to decide on Cardema’s substitution case.
“Comelec hasn’t released their final decision regarding Ronald Cardema’s application to substitute as a nominee of Duterte Youth despite strong evidence that Cardema and Duterte Youth used government funds to ‘win’ in the fraudulent 2019 elections,” Manuel said in a statement.
“This is a wake-up call to the Filipino Youth! Our role as ‘Pag-asa ng Bayan’ did not end after the casting of our votes last May 13. The shameless maneuver by Duterte to disregard the true will of the FIlipino people entails our vigilance and pushes us to fight for our rights and against the bastardization of Philippine elections,” he added.
Cardema’s substitution bid as Duterte Youth party-list first nominee got flak from the public recently as he filed his application just hours before voters went to the polls on May 13
Cardema also failed to resign from his position as National Youth Commission chair prior to his application for substitution.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said that 10 petitions had been already filed against Cardema regarding the issue on his substitution.
READ: 10 petitions filed vs Cardema’s bid to become party-list nominee
Apart from the case of Cardema, Manuel also slammed the irregularities revolving around the recently concluded midterm elections.
According to him, the administration should be held accountable over the “anomalous and fraudulent” elections as the youth cannot accept the results of the midterm polls.
“Bogus partylists, plunderers, and lapdogs of Duterte will dominate the senate and congress amidst the undeniable outrage over the conduct of the whole elections process,” he said.
Several groups already demanded the Comelec to provide answers regarding various poll issues that happened during election day.
READ: ‘Anyare, Comelec?’ Groups demand answers for various poll issues
Among the issues faced by the poll body were the 1,665 corrupted SD cards, the 961 malfunctioned vote counting machines, and the 7-hour delay on its transmission server. (Editor: Mike U. Frialde)
READ: 961 VCMs, 1,665 SD cards suffer glitches in 2019 polls — Comelec
READ: Comelec blames ‘bottleneck’ for 7-hour server delay