NIa'IraiESa'.

Business Insight
Tuesday, September L7 ,2079

Cardema withdraws
as Duterte Youth nominee
BY GERARD NAVAL nominee of the Duterte Youth
partyJist group in spite of his
DISQUALIFIED Duterte Yourh pending Motion fot Reconsidera-
party-list nominee Ronald Carde- tion regatding his disqualifi cation,
ma has linally thtown in the towel. and a new set of nominees the
Catdema submitted his Notice group submitted, where he re-
of lx/ithdfaval at the Commission mained as the first nominee.
on Elections (Comelec) as the first In a one-page Notice of With
drau.al6led Jast Friday, Cardema said
he was abandoning his application
to represent the group in Congtess
in a bid to ensure that the votes the
gtoup received will not go to waste.
"With all humility, I withdr4w
See CARDEMA) Page85

CARDEMA Commissioner Rovrena Guan-

from my nomination to sacdfice
' not been .issued rheir Cerrificate
myself from our party-list so that
the Comelec can immediately
re_
lease the Certi6cate of proclama_
tion.of the Comelec-approved suc,
ceedng oofiunee and ro gir,.e justice
to lhe vores of 350,000 Filioinos.
whom we declare o jmmediately
serve with their needed medical
assistance, tequested patriodc
pro,ec$, and activities for nation
building," Cardema said.
, He said he is vrithdrawing from
the nomination due to their srouo's
continued inabilitv to u...rri",h!i"
post in the Housi of Representa-
tives despite having bien pro_
claimed by the poll bodv l^sr il4nu.
Cardema citid the continued
public harassment of Comelec
zon as the reason vzhy thev have
of Proclamation, which is a re-
quirement in assuming a seat in
Congless,
"More than 350,000 Filipinos
voted and gave their mandate to
Duterre Youth patry-List last Mav
2019 and, until now,rva no,
"r.
abie to take our du.ly-proclaimed
seat in Congress because of the
public harassment towards me bv
Commissioner Guanzon,,, ea1'-
dema said.
The former National youth
Commission head also said he vas
withdrawing his nornination de-
spite having the confidence that his
MR will be granted by the Comelec
en banc, which woujd rhen result
to him being deemed as eligrble
as Du'lene Youth's first nominee.
"Even with our stronq faith
in the Comelec en banc"rhat it
will side with our MR and will
protect us from the harassment
of their corrupt
colleague.,.,.' said
Catdema.
He expressed hope his with-
dtawa.lwill be the lasihr.rtdle in the
continuing desire of the Durerte
Youth gloup to get its Certificate
of Proclamation.
"It my prayer that this persooal
is
sacri6ce be accepted and proceed
no',v ro the immediate release of
dre Certificate of Proclamation of
the succeeding nominees of the
Duterte Youth pafty-list', he said.
Last August 5, the Comelec
First Division declared the 34-
year old Cardema as beine ineli-
gible to reptesent Drrterte'yourh
since the latter is a patty-l.ist for
the youth sector, whose represen-
lative must be between 25 to 30
years old as provided by the law.
Cardema is 34.
Cardema subsequendv 6led an
MR before the Comelei en banc
last August 13 as he reiterated that
Duterte Youtl is a multi-sectoral
organization, which means that
its nominees should not have an
age Jimit.
Separatd last August 6, Dutere
Youth liled
aof nominees
new set
fiom numbers 2 to 5, u'ith Car-
dema retained as the lst nomilee.
while fus u'ife, Ducielle Marie Car-
dema, is the 2nd nominee.
During the last May 1 3 elections,
Duterte Youth wds awarded .rith
one party-list seat after gettins a
tota.l of 354,629 votes.

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