Duterte Youth asks SC to compel proclamation
Party list Duterte Youth on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to “immediately compel” the Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), to proclaim the group as one of the winning candidates in the midterm polls.
Duterte Youth party list chair Ronald Cardema filed the petition for certiorari a day after the NBOC deferred the group’s proclamation pending the resolution of several cases against it—particularly involving Red-tagging, an election offense.
In its petition, the party list urged the high court to declare unconstitutional and contrary to law the NBOC resolution issued on May 18, which suspended the group’s proclamation as one of the winning candidates.
The group was poised to secure three seats in the House of Representatives after garnering the second-highest number of votes, totaling over 2 million.
Duterte Youth also sought a temporary restraining order on the resolution as well as a writ of preliminary injunction to “immediately compel the respondent … to proclaim the petitioner … as one of the winning candidates.”
“The enforcement of the sovereign will of the people is not subject to the discretion of any official of the land. The rule of the law demands its Decisions to be obeyed by all officials of the land. There is no alternative to the rule of law except the reign of chaos and confusion,” the petition read in part, citing the 2002 case of Codilla v. De Venecia et al. (G.R. No. 150605).
In that case, the Supreme Court ordered the House of Representatives to recognize Eufrocino Codilla as the duly elected representative of Leyte’s 4th legislative district, invalidating his opponent’s proclamation due to procedural lapses and lack of due process.
‘Unscrupulous activities’
Speaking to reporters, he accused the NBOC of grave abuse of discretion, claiming it acted unilaterally in deciding when to proclaim the duly elected winners of the election.
In an interview on True FM on Tuesday, Cardema said “If you do not allow us to take our rightful party list seat and advance our advocacy, we will reveal to the Filipinos the unscrupulous activities of the Congress and Comelec, on how they are able to amass millions of pesos through your decisions, accreditations and projects.” —WITH A REPORT FROM DEXTER CABALZA
