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EilI0nnt
Onenilisance
out
or those who have kept faith in the party
list system despite its flaws, the Com-
mission on,Elections' (Comelec) decision
to deny the nomination of former Na-
tional Youth Commission (NYC) chair
Ronald Carderna as Duterte Youth party
list representative because of "material
misrepresentation" was both. unexpect'
ed vindication and answered prayer'
Created under the 1987 Conspitution:rs
a mechanism to give marginalized sectors propor-
donate representation in Congress, th€ well-inten-
tioned paity list system has been game{ bJ q.y
politicians and opportunilts ]ivhof despite their pedi-
gt.", havebeen suddenlybilling themselves as repre-
Ientatives of security guards,'probinsyanos," seafar-
ers, farmers, LPGdealers and sundry other sectors'
Among these reinvented personalities is Carde-
ma, who first gained attentidn (or notoriety) as the-
leader of Duterte YouJh, a ragtag rah-rah group of
seven that sought to steal the thunder from opposi-
tion rallies in the early months of the Duterte ad-
ministration. For his sycophantic efforts, Cardema
was appointed chair of the NYC inAugust 2018' ET-
ly thii!.ut, he called on government to remove the
scholarships of "rebellious Students'"
t{is neit claim to infamy came shortly after the
May elections, when he described himself with pre-
sumptive conceit as "incoming congressman" inhis
Facebook page.Turns out he had injected himself
into the outerte Youth party list as its first nominee
afteritspreviousfivenomineeswithdrewtheir
names at the last minute.
TheformerNYCchairalsoskirtedelectionrules
and used his position to campaign for Duterte
Youth.Whichexplainshisbelatedfilingofsubsti-
tute nominationiBy not nominating himself early
on, he could ignore Malacafr'ang's directive fo'r.C?f-
inet members running for elective posts to resrgn rn
time for the camPaign Period
\ PAG€ - AhQ-q
-Andtet,Tespifd'th=-objeitionsT-IseilagaTnst
his nominatiorl,'Cag{sna had no qudms showing
up in meetings and gatherings of newly elected par-
ty list representatives, as if he were already o1re of
th"*. Talk about positive visualization.
r Good thing the Comelec resolution shot down
Cardema's bid for good. Signed by pr-esiding com-
missioner Al Parreflo and commissioners Rowena'
Guanzon and Marlon Casquejo, the ruling granted
the petition of several youth groups to have Carde-
ma's'nomination bid thrown out, and detailed the
machinations Cardema had resorted to in service to
his overweening ambition to get into the House.
"The Commission finds Respondent to have
committed material misrepresentation on his quali-
fications," it said, citing Republic Act No.794r or the
Party-List System Act that says anyone running for
youth sector representative should be between z5
and 3o years old. Cardema is 34, while the three oth-
er substitute nominees :re aged 3r to 36. The ruling
also cited Section r, Rule 5 of Comelec Resolution No.
9366, where materid misrepresentation is consid-
ered a ground for the cancellation of a nomination.
Wnit. Cardema's lawyer amended her clieht's
aspiradon to represent "young professionals" in-
stead, Guanzon's grilling elicited the information
that Cardema has neither a college degree nor a
profession. His party is multisectoral, the lawyer
argued, to which the Comelec countered that it
could find "no reason why the age qualification
provided by law for nominees of the youth sector
:
should not be applied to the Respondent."
The ruling also noted ttrat Cardema filed for the
substiflrtion at the last minute-after office hours on a
weekend the day before the May r3 elections. Although
a Comelec official in a previous ruling had shrugged
.that "peopte do it all the tim€," the late filing seems to
havebeen a calculated maneuver, "undoubtedly wittt
the clear intent of depriving the electorate the oppor-
nrnity to be informed and to examine the qualifications
and credentials of the nominees," said the Comelec.
Cardema ca.n stilt file a rnotion for reconsidera-
tionwith the Comelec enbanc. Thankfully, without
a Certificate of Proclamation, he is still not consid-
ered a member of the House of Representatives de-
spite the guy having shamelessly taken his oath of
ofticg in advance-secure, no doubt, in the thought
that the official connections he'd managed to ac-
crue from all that career brownnosingwould even-
tualty tip the Comelec's hand in his favor.
Well" it appears they didn't work this time,
with Comelec rightly giving him the boot. That's
one nuisance out-a small but welcome break for
the party listsystem, for Congress and for a public
now spared of having to waste their tax money on
an inveterate interloPer.