MORE than 10 petitions have been filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against the substition bid for the Duterte Youth party-list organization.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the petition of Ronald Cardema, former National Youth Commission (NYC) chairperson, remained unresolved as of Friday, May 24, 2019.
"Apparently, there were a lot who filed opposition. As of last count, there are over 10 that filed opposition," Jimenez disclosed in a media briefing.
Duterte Youth, which received 354,629 votes, was one of 51 party-list organizations that won seats in the House of Representatives in the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections.
The winners, along with the senators-elect, were proclaimed by the Comelec, sitting en banc as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), on Wednesday, May 22, 2019.
Cardema, 33, filed on May 12, a Sunday, a petition to become the substitute first nominee of Duterte Youth after his wife Ducielle Marie Suarez withdrew as one of five nominees of the group.
"I cannot pin down a specific timeline for this because there will still be hearings," Jimenez said.
"The cases may be consolidated. It will be too time-consuming to dispose of each one, especially if they raise, substantively, the same issues," he added.
Most of the petitions cited the fact that Cardema is already 33 years old. Under the law, a nominee of the youth sector should be at least 25 years old but not more than 30 years of age on Election Day.
Jimenez said the Comelec still has more than a month to resolve the cases since the newly-elected officials will assume their posts at noon of June 30, 2019 yet.
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, in a series of Twitter posts on Friday, said she will dissent if Cardema's substitution bid is approved.
"He filed it on a Sunday, May 12, which is not a regular work day. And didn't file on last day, May 13," she said.
Guanzon said the resolution signed by Comelec Chairperson Sheriff Abas merely gave due course to Cardema's application for substitution.
"Whether he (Cardema) is qualified to substitute is another matter," she said. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)