Comelec denies Duterte Youth opposition to Guanzon’s substitution of P3PWD nominees

FILE PHOTOS: Incoming P3PWD party-list Rep. Rowena Guanzon and National Youth Commission chair Ronald Cardema.

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has denied the opposition of the Duterte Youth Party-list to a substitution of nominees of P3PWD Party-list, specifically that of former Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon as representative.

In filing the formal opposition last week, Duterte Youth Party-list Representative Ducielle Cardema and her husband National Youth Commission chair Ronald Cardema said that substituting P3PWD nominees was an “attempt to circumvent the law and promulgated Comelec rules” as it was done seven months after the November 15 deadline.

But the Comelec, in coming out with its ruling, disagreed.

“Approval of the Recommendation of the Law Department to Deny the June 17, 2022 Verified Opposition (to the Substitution of P3PWD Party-List Nominees) filed by DUTERTE Youth Party-List,” Comelec acting spokesperson Rex Laudiangco told reporters on Thursday.

Laudiangco explained that among the grounds for denying the party-list’s opposition is Comelec Resolution No. 10717, which “provides for the rules prior to the elections and not post-elections.”

Laudiangco likewise noted that they accepted the new list of P3PWD nominees “consistent with the 2019 case of Duterte Youth wherein the Commission en banc granted/allowed/gave due course to withdrawals, substitutions and submission of a new list of nominees after elections.”

He further pointed out that Sections 8 and 16 of Republic Act No. 7941 “ allows submission of additional nominees when the list of nominees had been exhausted.”

To recall, all five original nominees of P3PWD resigned due to personal and health reasons.

They were replaced by Guanzon (first nominee), Rosalie Garcia (second nominee), Cherrie Belmonte-Lim (third nominee), Donnabel Tenorio (fourth nominee), and Rodolfo Villar Jr. (fifth nominee).

P3PWD won a seat in the House of Representatives after getting 391,174 votes in the May 9 polls.

RELATED STORY:

Duterte Youth questions before SC Guanzon’s party-list substitution

EDV/abc