Duterte Youth party-list seeks TRO vs proclamation suspension
Duterte Youth party-list chairman, Ronald Cardema
MANILA, Philippines – The Duterte Youth party-list, through its chairman, Ronald Cardema on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to issue a restraining order (TRO) against the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) order suspending the group’s proclamation.
Duterte Youth got the second highest number of votes at 2,338,564 in the recent midterm elections, entitling it to three seats in Congress.
The party-list group’s proclamation on Monday, however, was suspended.
READ: Comelec suspends proclamation of Duterte Youth, BH party-lists
“We are filing for a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) against what the Comelec did. We believe that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion yesterday.” Cardema said in Filipino.
Cardema said they were only informed that Duterte Youth will not be proclaimed right before the proclamation itself.
“If they had told us last week, we could have done something about it. But it seems intentional—only three or four hours before the proclamation, that’s when they told us we won’t be proclaimed.” said Cardema.
The Duterte Youth fileda petition for certiorari and prohibition with prayer for a TRO and/or Writ of Preliminary Injuction.
Aside from the TRO, it urged the Supreme Court to compel the Comelec, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) to proclaim the Duterte Youth as one of the winning party-list groups.
