Commission on Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon on Twitter said she had been receiving threats which she suspects are connected to her decision on Ronald Cardema’s case.
The anonymous text message reads:
“kapag inipit mo pa din kame at di pa din kame nakaupo ilalabas namin part 2 ng series mo at papakasohan ka pa namen”
I received this text "kapag inipit mo pa din kame at di pa din kame nakaupo ilalabas namin part 2 ng series mo at papakasohan ka pa namen" Who do u think sent this ? obviously.
— Rowena V. Guanzon (@commrguanzon) July 18, 2019
Guanzon in another tweet mentioned that she is not the “pontente” or the one writing the decision of Cardema’s case about his qualification in representing the Duterte Youth party-list.
So all will know,I am not the ponente in the Cardema case so he has a chance. But their smear campaign against me will not sit well with the commissioners.@COMELEC
— Rowena V. Guanzon (@commrguanzon) July 18, 2019
It could be recalled that the election commissioner was the sole dissenter in the substitution plea of the former National Youth Commission chairperson due to legal issues surrounding his age.
“His substitution is not yet granted because there is a pending petition or opposition on the ground that he is over 30 years old and cannot be a rep of a youth sector party list,” she tweeted before.
The Party-list System Act, the legislation dictating provisions on electing party-list representatives, declares that nominees of a youth sector must fulfill certain age requirements.
This is stated in Section 9 of the law, with the following excerpt:
“In case of a nominee of the youth sector, he must at least be twenty-five (25) but not more than thirty (30) years of age on the day of the election. Any youth sectoral representative who attains the age of thirty during his term shall be allowed to continue until the expiration of his term.”
Cardema is currently 34-years-old, four years beyond the qualified age for the post.
Other issues that have been raised about his case is the timing and reasons of the initial nominees’ withdrawal.
RELATED: Duterte’s ‘youth’ representative Ronald Cardema: Questions, issues, controversies
Duterte Youth has yet to receive a certification of proclamation from the Comelec due to pending petitions filed against Cardema’s bid.
