Guanzon told: Answer plea vs party-list bid

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections has ordered retired Comelec commissioner Rowena Guanzon to answer a petition filed by National Youth Commission chief Ronald Cardema seeking to cancel her nomination as representative of the P3PWD party-list group.

Cardema, who chairs the Duterte Youth party-list group, filed the petition with the poll body on June 27, days after he and his wife, Duterte Youth party-list Rep. Ducielle Cardema, filed a petition on June 21 asking the Supreme Court (SC) to stop Guanzon from occupying the House of Representatives seat won by P3PWD in the May 9 elections.

In a three-page notice issued on July 6 but released to reporters on Thursday afternoon, the Comelec First Division gave Guanzon a non-extendible period of three days upon receipt of the order to file her comment or answer Cardema’s petition.

The notice was signed by Comelec acting chair and First Division presiding Commissioner Socorro Inting.

“The Comelec First Division ordered the respondent to file her answer to the petition as part of due process and in compliance with Comelec Rules of Procedure,” Comelec acting spokesman Rex Laudiangco told reporters in a Viber message.

Inting also ordered Guanzon to furnish Cardema a copy of her reply while both parties were directed to comply with the directives as stated under Comelec Resolution No. 10673, which sets rules on electronic filing and videoconferencing.

Guanzon has yet to issue a statement on the Comelec’s order.

Following her retirement, Guanzon was named as the first nominee of the P3PWD party-list group after it secured a House seat during the May 9 polls and after all its five nominees resigned for personal reasons.

Cardema, a staunch critic of Guanzon, questioned her nomination and filed a petition before the Comelec, which accepted Guanzon’s nomination and acknowledged her as an authorized representative of the party-list group.

Following the Comelec’s decision to accept Guanzon’s nomination, the Duterte Youth party-list sought the legal intervention of the SC, which issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on June 29 that blocked Guanzon’s entry to the House. The SC asked Guanzon to comment on the petition filed by the Cardemas.

‘No legal standing’

In her comment on the petition filed before the SC, Guanzon said Duterte Youth “does not have the requisite legal standing to question the substitution” of the P3PWD.

She said the group cannot file the petition as taxpayers since there is nothing in the Comelec resolutions the group cited that pertain to taxation or expenditure of public funds.

Guanzon added that neither can the group file the petition as Filipino citizens because they failed to prove they personally suffered actual or threatened injury as a result of the alleged illegal conduct of the government.

She said filing the petition for certiorari or review is not the proper remedy to question the Comelec resolution related to the P3PWD’s substitution of nominees.

The retired Comelec official said the Comelec’s resolutions are “merely directory” after the elections and any questions on the P3PWD first nominee’s eligibility is under the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.

Guanzon said the TRO issued by the SC against her nomination has become moot and academic as it was issued after the Comelec proclaimed P3PWD’s victory and her nomination to the party-list group.