Impeach me, election official dares Cardema
Credit to Author: WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT| Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:41:01 +0000
Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon on Tuesday dared former National Youth Commission (NYC) chairman Ronaldo Cardema to file an impeachment complaint against her.
“Go ahead, make my day!” Guanzon said on her Twitter account, adding that she was fully prepared for the battle.
In the same tweet, she uploaded Cardema’s certificate of acceptance of nomination from the Duterte Youth party-list, which states that the latter is 34 years old, thus not qualified to represent the youth.
Guanzon, a member of the Comelec First Division, was very vocal about Cardema’s alleged misrepresentation as a youth representative.
Earlier, the Comelec First Division ruled that Cardema is not eligible for nomination to represent Duterte Youth in the House of Representatives because he was already 34 years old, way beyond the 25 to 30 age limit set by Republic Act 7941, or the “Party-list Act,” for nominees of the youth sector.
Cardema alleged that Guanzon, through an intermediary, had asked for P2 million and two government positions in exchange for a favorable ruling on his nomination.
But the commissioner denied Cardema’s allegations, saying she was wealthier than his accuser, who, she pointed out, had no authority or power to appoint somebody in the government.
Cardema threatened to file an impeachment case against Guanzon.
Guanzon said she was not filing a case against Cardema because that would be a ground for her inhibition in the latter’s appeal before the Comelec.
“This Cardema is a liar and name-dropper,” she tweeted.
Guanzon said Cardema’s problem with the Comelec did not end with the cancellation of his nomination as representative of the Duterte Youth party-list.
The Comelec Legal Division, according to her, was looking into the possible filing of criminal charges against him for allegedly committing material misrepresentation on his eligibility and qualification as nominee of a youth party.
“If the Law department approves the filing of charges, then we will submit it to the commission en banc for approval. In fact, party-list groups should take a stand on this issue because Mr. Cardema has attempted to circumvent the law,” Guanzon told reporters in an earlier news briefing.
Cardema may still appeal his case before the Comelec en banc, and thereafter at the Supreme Court if the en banc will sustain the Comelec First Division’s ruling.
The Duterte Youth is among the 51 party-list groups that landed a seat at the House of Representatives.