Cardema still Duterte Youth’s 1st nominee despite Comelec ruling

Ronald (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte Youth party-list group still tagged Ronald Cardema as its first nominee in a new certificate of nomination that it filed on Tuesday with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) although the poll body had already junked his nomination.

In the certificate, Cardema was followed by his wife Ducielle Cardema tagged as “2nd nominee.”

Ronald’s name was just inserted above his wife’s and tagged as “1st nominee.”

Other nominees of the Duterte Youth party-list includes Guillermo Villarreal, Jr., Krizza Reyes, and Robert Garcia.

Under the law, anyone who intends to run as a representative of a youth sector should only be between 25 to 30 years old. Ronald is 34, while Ducielle is 27.

Ducielle was initially the first nominee of Duterte Youth. The other nominees were Gian Carlo Galang, Catherine Santos, Sharah Shane Makabali, and Kerwin Pagaran.

However, Ronald made a last-minute substitution bid on May 12 — just a day before the midterm elections.

The Duterte Youth won a seat in the House of Representatives.

Given the push-and-pull situation on the nomination of Ducielle for Duterte Youth, election lawyer Emilio Marañon, counsel for the youth groups that successfully sought the disqualification of Cardema, slammed this move of the concerned party-list group.

READ: Comelec cancels Cardema’s nomination bid for Duterte Youth

For Marañon, what Duterte Youth did was illegal since the party-list law prohibits the alteration of the order of nominees after it has been submitted to Comelec.

“This substitution is yet another mockery of the party-list system, of the Comelec and of the general public and, thus, should not be allowed by the Commission en banc,” Marañon said in a statement.

“The obvious intention is to secure the Congressional seat to Ronald Cardema’s wife, Ducielle, should the cancellation of the former’s nomination is affirmed by the Comelec en banc. This new ploy exposes the depravity of Duterte Youth and its corporate officers, fortifying our previous position that their registration should be canceled,” Marañon added.

He said their camp would file petitions before the Comelec against the Duterte Youth in the coming days.

The Comelec said that no certificate of proclamation would be given yet to the Duterte Youth following the disqualification of Cardema due to his being overaged.

READ: No certificate of proclamation to be given to Duterte Youth yet – Guanzon

/atm