‘Verdict on petition vs Duterte Youth’s registration out before polls’

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MANILA, Philippines — The petition to cancel Duterte Youth party list’s registration will be resolved before the May 12 midterm elections, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Tuesday.

Garcia made the assurance after Kabataan Tayo ang Pag-asa (KTAP) national convenor Brell Lacerna filed an urgent motion for Comelec to resolve the petition to cancel the party-list registration and/or declare the nullity of registration against Duterte Youth.

“My commitment is, even the cases from 2024 to 2025 will be resolved before the May 12 elections,” Garcia said in an ambush interview in Filipino.

Asked if this included the petition against Duterte Youth, Garcia said: “Yes, we will resolve, even the Duterte youth petition.”

“Otherwise it will go on and on, issues like that will not be resolved with finality,” he said.

The petition against Duterte Youth was filed on September 3, 2019, but the Comelec has yet to decide on it.

Garcia explained that such delays occur due to change of commissioners in the divisions handling the case every few years.

Nevertheless, Garcia said the Comelec retains jurisdiction over the Duterte Youth case.

But once Duterte Youth gets proclaimed, the jurisdiction lies with the House of Representatives’ electoral tribunal.

The Duterte Youth is running for reelection in the 2025 polls.

Lacerna reiterated that the party-list group made untruthful statements regarding the age of their nominees.

One of Duterte Youth nominees that time was former National Youth Commission chairman Ronald Cardema, who had been disqualified by the Comelec to become the party-list’s first representative due to his age.

The party-list law sets an age requirement for youth representatives at the maximum age of 30 years on the day of the election.

Cardema was already 34 by the time the 2019 polls took place.