House prods Comelec: Proclaim Duterte Youth, Senior Citizen nominees

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proclaim nominees of Duterte Youth and Senior Citizen party-list groups as winners in the 2019 midterm elections.

In House Resolution No. 552, lawmakers at the lower chamber lamented how voters are being disenfranchised while disqualification cases against Duterte Youth and Senior Citizen party-lists nominees remain unresolved by the poll body.

House Resolution No. 552 was filed Monday by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Majority Floor Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, Minority Leader and Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., and other deputy speakers.

“It has been six months from the date of the conclusion of the canvassing but there are no certificates of proclamation issued to the two respective party-lists due to unresolved disqualification against the respective first nominees of the party-lists mentioned,” the resolution said.

“The prolonged or more than six months unresolved and undecided cases evidently deny due process to the parties, including the disenfranchised 857,653 Filipinos who voted for the party-lists Senior Citizens (with 510,356 votes) and Duterte Youth (with 347,297 votes),” it added.

Proclamation of the Duterte Youth nominee has been delayed because of its controversial first nominee, former National Youth Commission head Ronald Cardema. To recall, Cardema – at the last minute – replaced his wife as first nominee of the Duterte Youth. But his qualifications became questionable since, among others, he was already 34 years old during the May 2019 polls when the law says a youth party-list representative in Congress must only be 30 years old on Election Day.

READ: Cardema quits Duterte Youth nomination ‘to sacrifice myself for our party-list’ 

READ: Duterte Youth nominates Cardema anew despite DQ

READ: Comelec approves Duterte Youth new substitute nominees

Edited by KGA