Duterte Youth questions suspension

A FRONT-RUNNER in the recently concluded midterm polls, Duterte Youth Party-list, questioned before the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday a Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolution suspending its proclamation, saying the poll body committed a “grave abuse of discretion” with its decision.

Duterte Youth Chairman Ronald Gian Carlo L. Cardema told reporters on Tuesday that the poll body only notified them of their suspension three or four hours before the proclamation rites on Monday.

This left them no room to fix the situation, he said.

“They’re putting the proclamation on hold for now. Let me say that the so-called ‘hao-shiao’ case has already existed since 2019, but we were still given a proclamation for the 2019 elections,” he said in Filipino.

The Comelec en banc on Monday suspended the proclamation of Duterte Youth due to pending cases, Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said during the proclamation rites at the Manila Hotel Tent City.

“Considering the serious allegations raised in the above petitions, which involve grave violation of election laws, the National Board of Canvassers resolved to suspend the proclamation of Duterte Youth…until the speedy and judicious resolution of the petitions filed before the Clerk of the Commission,” he said. 

Mr. Cardema questioned the move, pointing out that if the allegations were truly serious, the poll body would not have allowed the party-list’s proclamation in both the 2019 and 2022 elections.

“That is clearly a grave abuse of discretion. They only bring up the old case now, and it’s at their discretion whether to stop the proclamation,” he said.

Duterte Youth got 2.37 million votes, or 5.59% of the total, allowing it to have three seats in the chamber for the 20th Congress. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana