MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division cancelled Ronald Cardema’s nomination as representative of the Duterte Youth party-list.
Comelec said Cardema’s substitution bid was cancelled due to the misrepresentation of his eligibility.
Comelec’s verdict stemmed from two petitions lodged against the 34-year-old Cardema, who claimed he was eligible for nomination even if the age qualification provided for a representative of the youth sector under the Party-List law was limited to 25 to 30 years old.
“Cardema’s move was punishable under Comelec Resolution 9366, which ruled that material misrepresentation committed in the qualification of a nominee was grounds for the cancellation of the nomination,” it said.
“Duterte Youth could have defined the meaning of the term young professionals in its constitution and by-laws to help solve the puzzle, but it did not do so. In fact, Duterte Youth is even hiding behind the cloak of self-serving secrecy by claiming that the definition of the term young professional is a matter internal to the party,” it added.
“The party cannot really claim that it is multi-sectoral when the so called professional sector it claims to represent evidently forms part of the main sector—the youth sector—that Duterte Youth clearly stands for,” it said.
Comelec added that even if the Duterte Youth was a multi-sectoral party, Cardema could not represent the youth sector, since a representative of the youth sector needed to fall within the Party-list law requirement on age limits, regardless whether the party-list group was a multi-sectoral one or represented various other sectors other than the youth.
“Records would show that the Respondent started to highlight the professionals only after the filing of a petition against him questioning his eligibility to represent the youth sector,” it said.
“Pursuing such afterthought would not be enough to comply with the express mandate of Party-list law which requires changes in affiliation should be done at least six months before the election to be eligible for nomination,” Comelec added./PN
