Comelec junks Cardema nomination as Duterte Youth party-list rep

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division canceled the nomination of former National Youth Commission Chairperson Ronald Cardema as representative of the Duterte Youth party-list due to misrepresentation.

In a 25-page decision, the Comelec cited its previous ruling on Aratea vs. Comelec, in which the certificate of candidacy of a certain Romeo Lonzanida was cancelled and declared void ab initio given that Lonzanida had misrepresented his eligibility.

The decision stemmed from two petitions lodged by several youth groups, both of which argued that Cardema—who was 34 years old—sought to break the law by declaring in his Certificate of Acceptance and Nomination that 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.

The poll body said 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.

“In view thereof, the Commission finds Respondent to have committed material misrepresentation on his qualifications,” the Comelec First Division’s decision read.

Cardema countered that the Duterte Youth represented not only the youth, but also young professionals, which had no age limit.

The poll body, however, dismissed the argument by pointing out that professionals could not be differentiated from the youth sector as the Duterte Youth constitution and by-laws did not define what a young professional was.

“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,” the decision read.

“The party cannot really claim that it is a 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. With these in mind, this Commission finds no reason why the age qualification provided by law for nominees of the youth sector should not be applied to the Respondent,” the decision added.

The poll body further argued that even if the Duterte Youth was a multi-sectoral sector party, Cardema could not represent the professional sector, but not the youth sector, since a Supreme Court decision (Amores vs. HRET) ruled that 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,” the Comelec decision read.

“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.”

The Comelec thus canceled Cardema's nomination in a 2-0 vote, with Commissioners Rowena Guanzon and Marlon Casquejo ruling in favor of the petitioners. — DVM, GMA News