The Duterte Youth Party-List has announced its intention to challenge the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the Supreme Court after the electoral body temporarily suspended the proclamation of its three congressmen-elect.
In a strongly worded statement, Duterte Youth Party-List Chairman Ronald Cardema accused Comelec of “grave abuse of discretion” following the decision to delay the proclamation of their representatives—Re-elected Congresswoman Drixie Cardema, Congressman-elect Berlin Lingwa, and Congressman-elect Ron Bawalan—who collectively garnered over 2.3 million votes.
“This is definitely a grave abuse of discretion,” Cardema stated. “If the allegations of Kabataan Party-List were really ‘very serious’ in 2019, why did Comelec allow Duterte Youth Party-List to assume in Congress after the 2019 elections, be elected again in 2022, and now in 2025?”
Comelec suspended the proclamation of Duterte Youth, citing pending petitions filed by the leftist group Kabataan Party-List in 2019. The allegations reportedly include accusations of violating election laws, such as improper registration, vote-buying, and promoting violence.
However, Cardema dismissed these accusations as baseless, describing them as “pure harassment.” He emphasized that the party-list had already addressed the claims in 2019 and even secured a favorable Supreme Court ruling in 2020.
“The Supreme Court even ruled on it when the same petitioners raised it there, and the SC dismissed them in 2020,” Cardema stressed.
The three Duterte Youth representatives affected by the suspension are recognized as some of the youngest legislators in the House of Representatives:
Re-elected Congresswoman Drixie Cardema, 28, a military reservist and Vice-Chairperson of the House Committee on National Defense and Security.
Congressman-elect Berlin Lingwa, 26, a graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA).
Congressman-elect Ron Bawalan, 26, an alumnus of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
Cardema warned that Comelec’s move threatens the democratic process and the will of millions of voters. He also questioned why the electoral body delayed action on the petitions from 2019 until now, on the day of proclamation.
“If these allegations were serious, why weren’t they resolved immediately after the last hearing in 2019? This is an attempt to subvert the votes of the Filipino people,” he asserted.
The party-list group vowed to take immediate legal action, filing a petition with the Supreme Court to overturn the suspension and allow their representatives to take their seats in Congress.
