DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The proclamation of Gabriela Women Party-list set by Comelec to meet the required 20% of the House seat for party-lists comes two weeks after Duterte Youth’s registration was canceled. Although the Comelec clarified that the proclamation of Gabriela has nothing to do with the disqualification of Duterte Youth, there is something fitting that these two groups are tied together again on opposite sides of this event.
Supporters from both sides know the friction between each other. Duterte Youth, which professed to support the “strongman” rule of Duterte, followed their “idol” in red-tagging Gabriela and its allied Makabayan party-lists no end, alleging them as fronts of communist party intend to destabilize the Duterte government, which the Makabayan party-lists, has refuted all these allegations.
Their red-tagging tactic instead became one of the reasons for the cancellation of their registration. For a party-list to advocate violence (Its Facebook post said: “Uubusin namin kayo sa lansangan kasama ang mga NPA comrades ‘nyo”), Comelec upheld that such pronouncements deserve no place in Congress (and even in public discourse).
There are more serious offenses that the Comelec pointed out against Duterte Youth. During their first attempt in the elections in 2019, they failed to publish in two newspapers their registration for the election. Then on the day before the election, all five nominees resigned just to have its founder, then National Youth Commission chairperson Ronald Cardema, become its substitute nominee. The move was met with protests that included former NYC leaders. Comelec rightfully rejected Cardema’s nomination as he is overaged then at 34 years old to meet the requirement of a youth representative.
Comelec officials have long said it, Duterte Youth has made a “mockery” of the election system for thwarting the law for the ambitions of Cardema and not showing genuine intent to serve the sector they professed to represent.
Their legislative performance also attest to their failure to represent the youth. For some political twisting, Duterte Youth was able to take their seat from 2020 to 2022, yet in those two years, they are only credited to have passed one law, the General Appropriations Act of 2022. Their other contribution for the youth is their push to revive ROTC in colleges, a move that hasn’t gained approval among the youth because of the history of abuses and militarism in that system.
Contrast that to the other youth party-list that they maligned, Kabataan Party-list, which authored 32 laws for the benefit of the youth and marginalized sectors. https://www.altermidya.net/fact-check-duterte-youth-only-authored-1-law-in-18th-congress/ . The Kabataan representative during that time in the 18th Congress was Sarah Elago, who is now the representative of Gabriela. Talk about poetics in politics.
Between Elago and Cardema lies a wide chasm of political differences. One of them elevated the youth, the other elevated his political ambitions. One served the marginalized, the other professed undying loyalty to Duterte.
Duterte Youth’s disqualification must also lead to scrutiny of the party-list system. The fact that a party-list that carried the name of a former president twisted the system and delivered nothing for the marginalized, it’s time to call out other sham party-lists as well.(davaotoday.com)
