- Duterte Youth to file petition vs Comelec in decision to cancel registration
THE DUTERTE Youth Party-list will file a petition before the Supreme Court on Monday, Sept. 1, to declare Comelec’s move to cancel its registration as unconstitutional.
In its Facebook page, the group insisted that Comelec committed a grave abuse of discretion in rejecting its motion for reconsideration.
The Comelec En Banc, voting 5-1, denied the motion of reconsideration filed by Duterte Youth that sought to reverse the June 2025 decision of the Second Division.
The en banc said there is “no cogent reason” to reverse the decision, as the party-list failed to raise valid grounds for reconsideration of the resolution.
“We will file a Petition for Review in the Supreme Court on Monday (Sept 1) to challenge this Act of Comelec which is clearly very UNCONSTITUTIONAL and a GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION,” Duterte Youth Party-List chairman Ronald Cardema said in a statement Friday.
The party-list secured three congressional seats after getting two million votes in the May mid-term elections.
He stressed that the Comelec’s act “to twist the law” is no surprise, citing Republic Act 7941 or Partylist Law, Section 5. Registration: “The COMELEC Shall Publish.”
“Bakit iti-twist nila sa decision nila na tayo dapat ang nakahula na tayo ang magpublish ng ano at kelan. Sa batas mismo, KLARO na sila dapat,” Cardema said, questioning the credibility of the five commissioners who voted yes.
Cardema emphasized there is nothing to discuss since the issue does not exist in the first place.
The Comelec’s decision stemmed from a 2019 case filed by left-leaning groups who argued that Duterte Youth’s registration was void from the beginning due to its failure to comply with the requirements.
“We will not anymore discuss these issues in detail as it would not serve any useful purpose and would merely repeat the same justifications and reasons already taken up in the foregoing Assailed Resolution,” the en banc ruling stated.
In the decision, the en banc affirmed that the Duterte Youth committee violations including untruthful statements in its petition on the eligibility of its nominees.
Cardema maintained that their nominees are all Iskolar ng Bayan PMA, PNPA, UP, at Philippine Science High School.
The Duterte Youth slammed the Comelec as it did not uphold the decision of the citizens who voted for them during the May elections.
