Progressive youth groups Akbayan and Anakbayan scored the Duterte Youth after the Supreme Court junked a petition that sought to void the proclamation of the party-list group in Congress.
“This ruling favorable to Duterte Youth is a travesty to the party-list system, weakening its spirit as a space for marginalized sectors to take power. The Supreme Court's decision to side with Duterte Youth's proclamation, despite pending legal questions with COMELEC, is a blow to genuine youth representation,” Akbayan Youth chairperson Dr. RJ Naguit said in a statement.
He reminded the public that President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies in Congress threatened to defund the Commission on Elections (Comelec) if Duterte Youth is not proclaimed as a legitimate party-list group with at least one seat in Congress.
Anakbayan secretary general Vinz Simon, for his part, questioned the party-list group’s advocacies, saying it is not representative of the youth and its interests.
“You do not represent the interest of the people. Certainly, you do not represent the interests of the youth and students. Because where were you in the midst of the crisis that is the failed online learning program for Filipino students? Where were you when institutions are attacking and red-tagging youth organizations and their universities? Where are you?,” he asked.
A one-page notice issued on November 3, 2020, but released only yesterday showed that the Supreme Court, meeting as a whole, upheld the Comelec decision that allows Ducielle Marie Cardema to represent the Duterte Youth party-list to the House of Representatives.
The Supreme Court said the petitioners failed to show that the poll body committed grave abuse in allowing the party-list group to sit as a member of Congress.
Duterte Youth stands for Duty to Energize the Republic through the Enlightenment of the Youth Sectoral Party-list Organization.
However, youth leaders filed a case before the High Court on October 26, 2020, urging it to issue a status quo ante order and writ of preliminary injunction that would undo Cardema’s proclamation as representative to the 18th Congress.
The group also has a pending case at the Comelec for allegedly violating the Constitution, as well as Philippine election laws and the Party-list Act of 1995. Veteran lawyer Romulo Macalintal and the late Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. have thrown their support behind those questioning the legality of Duterte Youth as a party-list group.