MANILA—Two days after Comelec ruled on August 5 that Duterte Youth’s first nominee, Ronald Cardema, was not eligible to represent the party-list in Congress because he was over 30 years old (he was 34 years old on election day last May 13), the party-list group submitted a new list of nominees.

However, the deadline for filing a petition for withdrawal of nomination and substitution of nominees has already passed. The deadline was before the close of polls last May 13.

Section 4, Rule 4 of Comelec Resolution 9366, promulgated on Feb. 21, 2012 states, “Withdrawal of nominations or acceptance of nominations shall be in writing and under oath, and filed with the Law Department of the Commission in Manila before the close of polls. A nominee who withdraws his acceptance to the nomination shall not be eligible for nomination by other parties.”

If Comelec would deny the petition for substitution of nominees by the Duterte Youth party-list, the nominee who will sit in Congress will come from the last set of nominees of Duterte Youth that was filed on May 12 and approved by the Commission on June 3 (Table1).

	Nominee	Age as stated in the Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination	Age on Election day
1	Ronald Gian Carlo L. Cardema	34 years old	34 years old
2	Gian Carlo Galang	36 years old	36 years old
3	Catherine Santos	33 years old	33 years old
4	Kerwin M. Pagaran	31 years old	31 years old
5	Sharah Shane T. Makabali	29 years old	29 years old

Note: A 6th nominee, Allan Kevin C. Payawal (27 years old), was denied by Comelec because the list of nominees that Duterte Youth originally submitted in October 2018 contained only 5 nominees
Source: ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group
Sources of Basic Data: Petition for Withdrawal with Substitution filed by Duterte Youth on May 12, 2019, obtained from COMELEC Law Department; Comelec Minute Resolution 19-0568 promulgated on June 3.

Based on the list above, only the 5th nominee, Sharah Shane T. Makabali, is eligible to represent Duterte Youth in Congress as she is the only one among the nominees who is below 30 years old on election day.

This is based on Section 9 of Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-list System Act, which states, “In case of a nominee of the youth sector, he must at least be twenty-five (25) but not more than thirty (30) years of age on the day of the election. Any youth sectoral representative who attains the age of thirty during his term shall be allowed to continue until the expiration of his term.”

Below is the new list of nominees filed by Duterte Youth on Aug. 7, 2019:

1. Ronald Gian Carlo L. Cardema (34 years old on election day, based on previously acquired Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination)
2. Ducielle Marie S. Cardema (28 years old on election day, based on previously acquired Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination)
3. Guillermo B. Villareal
4. Krizza D. Reyes
5. Robert D. Garcia

Cardema’s wife, Ducielle Marie, was the original first nominee of Duterte Youth, according to the first Certificate of Nomination and Certificates of Acceptance of Nomination that the party-list filed with Comelec on Oct. 17, 2018 (Table 2).

	Nominee	Age as stated in the Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination	Age on Election day
1	Ducielle Marie D. Suarez	28 years old	28 years old
2	Joseph M. De Guzman	39 years old	40 years old
3	Benilda C. De Guzman	44 years old	44 years old
4	Arnaldo B. Villafranca	42 years old	43 years old
5	Elizabeth Anne F. Cardema	42 years old	42 years old

Source: ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group
Source of Basic Data: Certificate of Nomination and Certificates of Acceptance of Nomination obtained from COMELEC Education and Information Department