Lawyers to contest proclamation of Duterte Youth party-list as 2019 poll winner

A law firm on Thursday said it is prepared to contest before the Supreme Court the “illegality” of the impending declaration of the Duterte Youth party-list as a winner in the 2019 elections.

Lawyers Emilio Marañon III, Ernelson Trojillo, Rod Ryan Suaco of the Trojillo Ansaldo & Marañon (TAM) Law Offices denounced the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to issue a certificate of proclamation to the party-list.

“The Comelec has announced that it has voted 4-1 to proclaim Duterte Youth's Ducielle Cardema despite the fact that it is NOT even a registered party-list organization and notwithstanding various cases filed against the group,” they said in a statement.

“An act as patently wrong and as brazen as this simply cannot go uncontested. Thus, we are ready to contest this illegality before the Supreme Court as soon as the Comelec releases its decision,” they added.

The lawyers said they will also simultaneously file a quo warranto petition before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal “to unseat Cardema.”

“If the law were just to be followed, we are very confident that we can easily undo and reverse this,” they said.

Poll chairman Sheriff Abas earlier said a certificate of proclamation for the Duterte Youth party-list will be released within the week. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/757036/comelec-eyes-release-of-duterte-youth-s-certification-of-proclamation-within-the-week/story/

Last year, Comelec approved Ducielle Cardema, Guillermo Villarreal, Jr., Krizza Reyes, and Robert Garcia as substitute nominees of Duterte Youth party-list after Ronald Cardema was disqualified for being overaged.

Only those aged 25 to 30 on election day are qualified to represent a youth party-list.

Ronald Cardema is 34 years old.—Julia Mari Ornedo/LDF, GMA News