Guanzon: There will be a petition to disqualify entire Duterte Youth party-list
MANILA. Philippines — After the cancellation of the nomination of Duterte Youth party-list representative Ronald Cardema, a petition will also be filed to cancel the registration of the party-list, Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Rowena Guanzon said.
“There is already a petition, I understand there will be. So we have to hear that petition. Not yet, but I was told that there will be [a petition],” Guanzon said in an interview aired Thursday over ANC.
Guanzon said that among the grounds of the petition that will be filed is material misrepresentation for violating Comelec rules.
She added that commissioners, including her, may also pursue themselves the cancellation of the party-list’s registration.
In her case, she said, espousing violence by sending death threats could be the basis of her petition, noting that she previously received death threats against her and her family which was allegedly launched by the party-list.
READ: Guanzon dares Cardema to publicly deny being behind threats
READ: Comelec’s Guanzon bares getting threats
“It stopped right after I had a press conference [where I called them out]. I am not just gonna sit here, I survived — at 27, 28 years old I was a mayor of a warlord city — I survived worse people. It’s just that I can no longer tolerate it when they threaten my family. It is not fair,” Guanzon said.
“The first wave before I just ignored it, this time they threatened to harm my nephews and nieces. That made me really angry… The second wave was immediately after the [disqualification] within 24 hours,” she added.
However, Guanzon said she would not file the petition as she does not want to give Cardema the “satisfaction” of inhibiting herself.
“I don’t want to be the complainant because I don’t want to inhibit myself. Why should I give him the satisfaction?” Guanzon said.
The Comelec’s First Division earlier denied the nomination of Cardema to be the party-list representative of the Duterte Youth.
It said that Cardema committed a misrepresentation on his age when he filed his nomination.
Under the party-list law, anyone running for a youth sector representative should be between 25 and 30 years old. Cardema is already 34. /muf
READ: Comelec cancels Cardema’s nomination bid for Duterte Youth
