FORMER National Youth Commission (NYC) chair, Ronald Cardema, vowed to file libel and perjury charges against some officers of the ‘Kabataan Party List’ for submitting a petition before the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), seeking for the disqualification of the ‘Duterte Youth Party List’ based on the same grounds that were already dismissed by the Supreme Court, five years ago, in 2020.
At the Kamuning Bake Shop media forum last March 27, Cardema said they had lost patience with the Kabataan, which been questioning the legality of the Duterte Youth and its presence in Congress since it first won in the 2019 partylist election.
Kabataan Tayo ang Pag-asa (KTAP/Kabataan) is the youth wing in Congress of the larger, ‘Makabayan Bloc,’ which is accused by state security officials of comprising the legal front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) all working to bring down the government “from within.” The CPP has been proscribed as a terrorist organization here and abroad.
Last March 25, Kabataan, thru its national convenor, Brell Lacerna, again badgered the COMELEC with its petition to cancel the Duterte Youth’s registration claiming it has been pending with the poll body “for over six years.”
But according to Cardema, the Supreme Court, in GR 253838 dated November 3, 2020, dismissed the petition and uphold the COMELEC’s decision back then to approve the Duterte Youth’s participation in the 2019 polls where it won a seat. The group was then allowed to participate in the 2022 polls where it again won another seat now being occupied by Cardema’s wife, Rep. Drixie Cardema.
The SC dismissal, he noted further, was anchored on the petition filed in October 2020 by Kabataan based on the same set of arguments the group now used in its petition before the COMELEC.
“In just a matter of one month after the (original) petition was filed in 2020, it was dismissed by the Supreme Court, probably the ‘fastest’ decision ever on an electoral protest,” Cardema claimed.
At the time, Kabataan argued for the Supreme Court to unseat Duterte Youth claiming that:
- it was not registered with the COMELEC and that alternatively, b) the registration was invalid due to lack of publication and public hearing.
Likewise, Kabataan claimed Duterte Youth made c) “untruthful statements” on the eligibility of its nominees and that finally, d) Cardema is not qualified to represent the youth sector.
Cardema noted that all these arguments were the same ones dismissed by the Supreme Court.
He added that Kabataan is reviving its thrown-out complaint before the COMELEC since the Duterte Youth is now surging past many partylist groups in recent surveys.
“Nalampasan na kasi namin sila (Kabataan) sa mga survey kaya sila nag-iingay,” he said.
Cardema also pointed out that it was former COMELEC commissioner Rowena Guanzon who made all the arguments against him and the Duterte Youth and which all proved untenable in the end.
Specifically, Cardema said they intend to sue Aunell Ross Angcos, Raainah Punzalan, Abigail Aleli Tan and Raeya Beatrice Magtalas, who were freely interviewed by the media during their rally in front of the COMELEC office last March 25.
Incidentally, they are the same petitioners in 2020 against the Duterte Youth.
Aside from libel, Cardema said they would also file perjury charges against Kabataan officials for swearing under oath despite knowing their petition is anchored on arguments previously junked by the Supreme Court.