Comelec granted a certificate of a proclamation to a representative of the controversial Duterte Youth Party List, allowing them to take a seat at the House of Representatives soon.
The poll body’s chairman Sheriff Abas said nominee Ducielle Cardema, wife of former National Youth Commission chair Ronald Cardema, received the certificate.
He added four of five Comelec commissioners have already signed. The fifth member has seven days to sign, Abas said.
Northern Samar 1st District Representative Paul Daza threatened to hold Comelec’s budget for 2021 unless the Comelec chief assured the solons that Duterte Youth would be allowed to sit in the House soon.
Abas refused, but Presiding Officer David Suarez stopped Daza from moving for the deferment, noting the need to begin plenary deliberations on the 2021 budget next week.
Suarez then assured Daza he would work with the poll body to get Daza’s concerns addressed before Comelec’s budget hits the plenary session of the Congress.
In 2019, the Comelec disqualified Duterte Youth first nominee Ronald Cardema because he was overaged. The party-list again nominated him later withdrew.
It then approved new nominees, which included Cardema’s wife.
Duterte Youth to take House seat after Comelec proclamation
A group of young individuals has also appealed Comelec to disqualify the party-list group’s registration for having “violated multiple provisions of the law and the Comelec Rules.”
The Duterte Youth’s proclamation came days after President Rodrigo Duterte appointed a lawyer from Davao with an information technology expertise as the new Comelec commissioner, 20 months before the May 2022 local and national elections.
Commission on Elections Chairman Sheriff Abas said Michael Braganza Peloton was nominated to replace former Commissioner Luie Tito Guia, who retired on February 2.
Malacañang confirmed Monday the nomination of Peloton, a lawyer based in Davao, the home city of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We are confident that Mr. Peloton would serve the Commission with professionalism and integrity in the conduct of clean, credible, free, honest, orderly and modernized elections,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
Meanwhile, Abas said Peloton is “a timely addition to the Commission en banc as his vast experience in the field of law and information technology will highly contribute in our thrust to further improve and revolutionize our electoral process.”