Regulation of party-list group names pushed

MANILA, Philippines — Amid the controversy involving the Duterte Youth, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will push for stricter accreditation process for party-list organizations, especially those named after “politicians and any living individuals.”

Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said yesterday she will recommend that the Comelec regulate the names being used by party-list groups in future polls.

She said Duterte Youth, which won one seat in the House of Representatives, was voted by young people because of President Duterte’s name, and “not because somebody there is their best representative,”  apparently referring to the group’s leader, Ronald Cardema.

However, Guanzon noted she does not think Cardema had the support of Malacañang when he nominated himself as first nominee of Duterte Youth where he is the president, secretary general and chairman – all at the same time. 

She said she would recommend that party-list groups that use the name of a “politician or living person must have the consent of that person under oath” and must appear before the Comelec “at the very least.”

“Many people believe he used the National Youth Commission (NYC) for the campaign. That is why he did not list his name as a nominee because he did not want to resign,” she said in a press briefing.

As a rule, presidential appointees are deemed resigned once they file their certificates of candidacy or certificates of nomination and acceptance (CONA) in the case of party-list group nominees.

But Cardema had submitted his CONA, replacing his wife as leading nominee of Duterte Youth, on May 12 or a day before the midterm polls.  He was then chairman of NYC.

Last week, the Comelec First Division cancelled Cardema’s CONA after finding that at 34, he is overaged to be the nominee of a party-list group representing the youth, who must be 25 to 30 years old on election day.