Commission on Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon claimed she received a new threat allegedly from supporters of Ronald Cardema, whose nomination as representative of the Duterte Youth party-list has been canceled.
Guanzon took to Twitter on August 5 to make her claim, even tagging Cardema’s Twitter handle:
“Another threat: Nagmamalinis ka pa ikaw din ang may gawa…satanas! Ronald Cardema, you will still deny this is from your gang of thugs?”
another threat "NAGMAMALINIS KA PA IKAW DIN ANG MAY GAWA. ..SATANAS!" @RonaldCardema you will still deny this is from your gang of thugs?
— Rowena V. Guanzon (@commrguanzon) August 5, 2019
The lone dissenter in Cardema’s House bid also claimed to receive a threat last month via an anonymous text message.
“Kapag inipit mo pa din kame at di pa din kame nakaupo ilalabas namin part 2 ng series mo at papakasohan ka pa namen.”
She clarified in another tweet that she was not the “pontente” or the author of the decision concerning Cardema’s qualifications to represent Duterte Youth.
The poll body approved the withdrawal of Duterte Youth’s five nominees last June with Guazon as the dissenting commissioner and with Commissioner Luie Tito Guia abstaining.
Guia abstained to remain consistent with his earlier vote rejecting the accreditation of the party-list from the beginning.
Cardema’s last-minute application to the House seat in May raised several issues, including it being against Comelec Resolution 3307-A, which details the rules and regulations on party-list representatives.
Cancelling Cardema’s House bid
On August 5, the Comelec’s First Division voted 2-0 in favor of the petition to disqualify or cancel Cardema’s nomination for Duterte Youth at the 18th Congress. This made the former Youth commissioner ineligible to serve as sector representative.
“The Commission reiterates its unmistakable conclusion, based on facts of law and jurisprudence, that Cardema is not eligible for nomination to represent Duterte Youth in the House of Representatives,” the Comelec said.
This was a matter of misrepresenting the group, the poll body noted, as Cardema knew he is overage for the position.
“Respondent (Cardema) is aware that he is already 34 years old and thus committed falsity when he misrepresented that he is eligible for nomination by Duterte Youth despite not possessing the age qualification provided by law for representatives of the youth sector,” the agency said.
The petitioner’s legal counsel, Emilio Marañon, hoped that this would be a step to reform the whole party-list system in the country.
