Duterte Youth rep keeps seat in Congress as SC junks bid to void proclamation
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has junked youth groups’ petition to void the proclamation of Ducielle Cardema as Duterte Youth representative, which allows her to keep her seat in Congress.
The SC in a resolution issued on Nov. 3, 2020 but only released to the media on Tuesday, said that the petitioners failed to show that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) committed grave abuse of discretion.
“The challenged minute resolutions… appear to be in accord with the facts and applicable law and jurisprudence,” the SC en banc said.
Reacting to the ruling, Cardema said they will now file libel and disbarment raps against the youth groups and Emil Marañon, the lawyer who represented them, for their supposed “media demolition job.”
The youth groups wanted the SC to declare the Comelec’s proclamation of Cardema as void from the beginning, contending that the poll body has yet to resolve “prejudicial questions” they raised in pending cases which sought to cancel the right-wing party-list’s registration and disqualify Cardema from being its nominee.
Cardema took her oath before House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on October 13 and has since been on the attack against leftist, civilian groups tagging them as communist fronts.
The neophyte lawmaker was also granted a plum post by the House leadership, which gave her the vice-chairmanship of the national defense panel.
She is the wife of National Youth Commissioner executive Ronald Cardema who was previously the nominee of the Duterte Youth party-list but was disqualified for being overaged. — Xave Gregorio with a report from Kristine Joy Patag
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