Comelec cancels Duterte Youth party-list registration

MANILA, Philippines — Due to non-compliance, the Commission on Elections has canceled the registration of the Duterte Youth party-list group.

Voting 2-1, the Comelec Second Division ruled to cancel the registration of Duterte Youth, which won three congressional seats in the recent midterm elections.

“As Duterte Youth failed to prove compliance with the jurisdictional requirements of publication and hearing, its registration as a party-list organization is void,” the Comelec Second Division said.

“Duterte Youth cannot merely hide under the convenient excuse that the Commission had not required it to publish its petition for registration or that the Commission has not set a hearing, as it reflects poorly on the party’s commitment to transparency and accountability,” it added.

Grounds for cancellation of registration were committed by the group when it accommodated an overaged candidate as its nominee, the poll body said, referring to Ronald Cardema.

Respondents can still file a motion for reconsideration and elevate the case before the Supreme Court, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said.

The poll body had suspended the proclamation of the group’s nominees “considering serious allegations raised in the petitions” filed against Duterte Youth in 2019.

Based on the 2019 complaint, the group’s registration was approved by the Comelec without proper proceedings, as mandated by the Party-list System Act.

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News, Garcia said the poll body will continue with the ongoing cases involving Duterte Youth.

A case over the group’s alleged violation of the Comelec resolution against red-tagging is ongoing, he noted.

There is an ongoing probe over the name used by the group’s first nominee, which Garcia said could develop into another case.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro and representative-elect Antonio Tinio welcomed the poll body’s decision.

Castro and Tinio urged the Comelec en banc to uphold the ruling so that deserving party-list groups could be proclaimed before June 30.

“The Duterte Youth party-list was never formed to uphold the genuine interests of Filipino youth – it was established as a red-tagging organization designed to benefit the Duterte family and their political machinery,” they said.