Youth groups filed a second petition at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, October 28, seeking to undo the proclamation of Duterte Youth representative Ducielle Cardema and void the registration of the group as a party-list group in the 2019 elections. 

Under a coalition called the “Youth Fight Back Alliance,” 21 young Filipino leaders said allowing Duterte Youth to sit in the 18th Congress would “open the floodgates and pandora’s box” of unqualified candidates taking advantage of the party-list system. 

Youth groups also feared that allowing Duterte Youth to sit in Congress – despite its alleged failure to comply with registration requirements mandated by the Constitution and Philippine election laws – could undermine elections for years to come. 

“What is at stake here is the integrity of our democracy, the integrity of our government institutions, and genuine representation in government,” the group said. 

The petition filed on Wednesday was the second challenge to the controversial Duterte Youth group that has reached the Supreme Court. 

Since the May 2019 midterm polls, the group’s congressional bid has faced a tidal wave of opposition and has been denounced across the political spectrum for its attempts to game the party-list system.  

Why the ‘preferential treatment?’

The 41-page petition requests the Supreme Court to immediately issue a temporary restraining order to stop Cardema’s assumption to the House of Representatives and to conduct a hearing on the petition facing the group. 

It also asked to issue a status quo ante order and writ of preliminary injunction that would reverse Cardema’s proclamation. 

The group said this would allow Cardema’s status to be restored to that of one whose proclamation remained pending at the Comelec while petitions seeking to disqualify her and cancel Duterte Youth’s registration remain unresolved. 

Youth groups also asked the Supreme Court to strike down and declare as void Comelec issuances that treated the group as a duly registered party-list, despite its alleged failure to abide by legal requirements for a valid registration. 

Election lawyers have repeatedly pointed out that Duterte Youth was the only organization since the institution of the party list to have been granted registration without completing publication and hearing requirements.

The petition brings to the attention of the Supreme Court these defects, saying these violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause. The group argued there was no reason for Duterte Youth to be given preferential treatment and “treated as a class of its own.” 

“Plainly… a proclamation entitling its nominee to sit as representative… of an unregistered and unpublished party-list applicant was issued in marked violation of the equal protection clause… to the clear prejudice of all other party-list organizations that had to go through the painstaking, more cumbersome, and evidently more costly process involving publication and subjecting themselves to scrutiny in a public hearing,” they said. 

Dangerous precedent

Outside the Supreme Court, youth leaders who have opposed Duterte Youth’s bid to sit in Congress for over a year now pleaded the Supreme Court to safeguard elections laws for young voters. 

“The Comelec Rules of Procedure and the Party-List System Act are clear on what processes should be followed. If the COMELEC itself cannot abide by them, how can we encourage first-time voters to register? How can we be confident in the coming elections?” said  Akbayan Youth President Raymond John Naguit. 

Development worker and Kaya Natin! Youth member Wynona Galvez echoed: “One of our most basic of human rights is the right to vote and be voted upon, this is empty rhetoric without justice and without fair, meaningful, and credible elections as well as a Comelec that will ensure and safeguard these for us.” – Rappler.com