Two party-list lawmakers took their oath as representatives of the Duterte Youth Party-list and the Senior Citizens Party-list.
It was newly-installed House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco who administered the oath to Ducielle Cardema, and Rodolfo Ordanes as new members of the Lower Chamber.
Cardema replaced her husband, Ronald after the latter’s nomination as Duterte Youth’s 1st nominee was cancelled by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 1st Division for being overaged since under the law, a youth sector party-list representative must be between 25 to 30 years old.
In February this year, the Comelec en banc affirmed the decision of its First Division declaring Ronald Cardema as ineligible to be a nominee of the Duterte Youth partylist
During her oath-taking, Cardema was accompanied by her husband.
The oath-taking ceremony was held at the sidelines of the first leg of the House of Representatives’ special session for the deliberations on the P4.506-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB), particularly during the plenary discussion on the proposed P171.22 billion budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for 2021.
After Cardema, Ordanes also took his oath. He replaced Senior Citizens party list Rep. Francisco “Jun” Datol who died due to complications brought about by COVID-19 last August 10.