“This puts into question whether the five nominees of Duterte Youth are honest nominees from the start or just dummies put in place by their masters.”
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Youth group Kabataan Partylist has filed a petition before the Commission on Elections opposing now former National Youth Commission chief Ronald Cardema’s bid to serve as substitute lawmaker to the controversial “Duterte Youth” Partylist.
In a 12-page petition, Kabataan noted that the withdrawal of its original nominees and the proposed substitution wreak of election laws violation and has made a “blatant mockery” of it.
“This puts into question whether the five nominees of Duterte Youth are honest nominees from the start or just dummies put in place by their masters,” the petition read.
On May 12, all five nominees of the Duterte Youth filed a petition to withdraw as part of the partylist. On the same day, however, Cardema filed a petition to be a substitute.
Duterte Youth claimed that the age limit does not apply to their group because they represent both youth and professionals. The country’s partylist law stipulates that those representing the youth sector must be between 25 to 30.
But actor and former NYC chairperson Dingdong Dantes found it saddening that the country’s primary youth representative has chosen to “abuse and circumvent the partylist system.”
“We want to assume that he has good intentions. But he has to explain why all the nominees of their partylist suddenly withdrew and his attempt to be his wife’s substitute, who is their first nominee,” Dantes said, referring to the May 12 petition filed by all nominees to withdraw from the group’s roster of lawmakers.
“Is this the kind of values we want to impart to our youth?” Dantes asked.
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