Conspiring with Guanzon? Manuel says Duterte Youth rep may contest speech if present

FILE PHOTO: Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Duterte Youth Rep. Drixie Mae Cardema could have availed of the opportunity to question the purported collusion between Makabayan bloc legislators and erstwhile electoral official Rowena Guanzon had she been in attendance, Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel noted on Tuesday.

In a statement, Manuel addressed Cardema’s accusations that Guanzon was conspiring with “leftists” so she could get into Congress.

This was after Manuel delivered a privilege speech on Monday calling on the House of Representatives to recognize Guanzon as the first nominee of the Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) party-list.

In a separate statement, Cardema said that Manuel was lying when he said that Guanzon could already assume her post because the Supreme Court (SC) barred it.

“If Cong. Drixie Cardema has any issues with my privilege speech, I hope she had been attending our plenary sessions in Congress physically and more regularly so we can debate on the topic of my speech,” Manuel said.

After Manuel delivered the speech at the plenary, there were no members of the House who rose to interpellate him.  Usually, lawmakers who support or disagree with the stand of the solon giving the privilege speech are allowed to make their own manifestations or raise questions.

READ: House urged to recognize Guanzon as P3PWD representative

Manuel blasted the Duterte Youth party-list, accusing them of not representing any marginalized sector in contrast to Guanzon’s P3PWD party-list.

“That aside, Duterte Youth doesn’t really care about the representation of marginalized sectors. First, it attacks genuine partylists while initially fielding an overaged nominee as youth representative,” Manuel said.

“Second, it disenfranchised PWDs by causing to deprive them of a seat in Congress for eight months now. Well, what do we expect from a fake partylist like Duterte Youth whose name doesn’t even sound like a marginalized group?” he added.

Manuel, speaking on behalf of the Makabayan bloc, highlighted how the lengthy vacancy of the P3PWD seat left individuals with disabilities (PWDs) without representation in Congress.

The P3PWD gained a grand total of 391,174 votes in the 2022 elections, granting it at least one seat in the 19th Congress. Nonetheless, the organization provoked discussion after all of its original nominees resigned from the party, eventually electing Guanzon as their first nominee.

Though this practice had been conducted before and was validated by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), critics of Guanzon — including the Duterte Youth party-list — noted that she had only retired from her post as Comelec commissioner in February 2022.

As the Duterte Youth party-list took issue with Guanzon’s seat in Congress, SC issued a temporary restraining order against it.

Cardema declared on Tuesday that Manuel deceived the House in open session by omitting this detail.

“Inutusan rin ng SC ang Comelec, na wag iimplement ang questionableng resolution nila patungkol sa substitution ni Guanzon at inutusan rin ng SC ang Kongreso na wag i-allow mag-assume si Guanzon dahil sa pending na kaso nito,” Cardema said.

(SC ordered Comelec not to implement this questionable resolution regarding the substitution of Guanzon, and also directed the Congress not to allow the assumption of Guanzon into her post because of this pending case.)

“The Leftist Kabataan Rep. Manuel deliberately did not mention this Supreme Court Ruling and lied in open session that Guanzon assumed already last June 30. It is already public knowledge that Guanzon was not allowed by the SC to assume (office) last June 29 therefore she did not become a Member of the House of Representatives last June 30,” she added.

/abc

READ: SC temporarily stops Guanzon from assuming post in Congress

READ: Comelec to ex-commissioner Guanzon: Respond to petition to cancel party-list nomination