Duterte Youth politician with links to US white supremacists blocked from Philippine congress ... because he’s not young enough
- Ronald Cardema tried to claim a seat in the House of Representatives as the nominee of a party representing the president’s young supporters
- But at 34 years old, he wasn’t legally a youth, and the election watchdog has retroactively disqualified him
A controversial politician with links to American white supremacists has been disqualified from the Philippine congress because he is not young enough for the youth group he was trying to represent.
The problem was, at 34 years old, he wasn’t legally a youth, and he hadn’t been nominated by the party. Instead, he tried to take over the position from his wife, who had been nominated under her maiden name but mysteriously dropped out of contention alongside other candidates shortly before Cardema put his own name forward.
Despite petitions for his disqualification having been filed against him by the National Union of Students of the Philippines, the College Editors Guild and Youth Act Now Against Tyranny, Cardema attended the opening of Congress. He vowed to file a bill to revive the death penalty for heinous crimes, rapists, terrorists and communist rebels who kill state forces.
But the Philippine Commission on Elections, or Comelec, voted 2-0 on Monday to disqualify Cardema for committing “material misrepresentation on his qualifications”.