Duterte Youth Party-List on Monday said it will challenge in the Supreme Court the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) alleged grave abuse of discretion by suspending the proclamation of its three nationally elected nominees.
A few hours before the proclamation of all party-list Congressmen, Comelec informed the Duterte Youth Party-List that it would temporarily suspend the proclamation of its three congressmen-elect namely re-elected Congresswoman Drixie Cardema, Congressman-elect Berlin Lingwa, and Congressman-elect Ron Bawalan.
According to Comelec, the suspension of proclamation was “due to the serious allegations” in a case filed by the leftist Kabataan Party-List in 2019.
Duterte Youth is the second partylist with the highest number of votes garnering 2,338,564, entitling it to three House seats.
In a press statement released on Monday, Cardema said she would challenge this very clear “grave abuse of discretion” of Comelec in the SC stating:
“If the allegations of Kabataan Party-List were really “very serious” in 2019, why did Comelec allow Duterte Youth Party-List to: 1. Assume in Congress after the 2019 elections, 2. Be elected again and assume in Congress after the 2022 elections, and be elected again in the 2025 elections wherein millions of Filipino voters elected Duterte Youth Party-List to be their representatives in Congress,” it said.
“It is not the fault of the Duterte Youth Partylist if the Comelec did not dismiss that “hao shao case” after its last hearing in 2019, and now Comelec is trying to subvert the votes of the Filipino People by delaying an Election Proclamation scheduled today,” the statement added.
Duterte Youth Partylist emphasized that the case filed by the Kabataan Partylist has already been answered by Duterte Youth Partylist in 2019 and it can be seen by the people as a pure harassment case.
“Sinagot na namin lahat yan sa Comelec noong 2019, mga mababaw na issue na wala naman katotohanan. Pinaupo na kami noon after manalo sa 2019 elections, pinaupo na kami after manalo sa 2022 elections, at ngayon na milyon-milyong Pilipino ang bumoto samin, ngayon mismong araw ng proclamation sasabihin na ihold muna dahil serious yung allegation ng Kabataan Party-List noong 2019. Kung ganun ka-seryoso yun bakit hindi niyo agad dinecisionan after noong huling hearing natin noong 2019 pa. This is definitely a grave abuse of discretion para lang ihold now ang pinili ng milyon-milyong Pilipino, election na nga lang ang proof na may demokrasya pa sa bansa, paglalaruan niyo pa kung sino ang makakaupo sa binoto ng milyon-milyong botante, grave abuse of discretion,” it said.
The group also warned that if the Comelec does not let them sit down and speak their advocacy in the country, they will tell the people all the alleged nonsense in Congress and Comelec about how the officials make millions in decisions, accreditations, projects, and funds.
“Wala kaming pakialam dyan mga pamemera niyo sa gobyerno dahil hindi kami kasali dyan at busy kami sa pakikipaglaban sa mga kalaban ng gobyerno pero pag kami na ibinoto ng milyon-milyong Pilipino ay tatarantaduhin ninyo, ikekwento namin lahat sa taumbayan ang mga kalookohan ninyo sa gobyernong ito,” it said.
Prior to the May polls, two members of the Duterte Youth Partylist attempted to file an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr..
Couple Ronald and Marie Cardema waited at the House of Representatives on the afternoon of May 8 for the Duterte Youth-endorsed complaint to be filed with the Office of the Secretary-General (OSG). However, the filing did not push through as planned after House Secretary General Reginald Velasco was unavailable to receive the document.
Meanwhile, the Comelec also suspended the proclamation of the Bagong Henerasyon (BH) Partylist due to pending petitions against it.
The political party participated in the 2019 Philippine elections, where it secured one seat in the House of Representatives.
