Duterte Youth filed on Monday a disqualification petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against the P3PWD Party list of former poll commissioner Rowena Guanzon.

Represented by its chairperson, National Youth Commission (NYC) Undersecretary Ronald Cardema and Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, Duterte Youth filed a petition to deny due course against P3PWD Partylist's manifestation of intent to participate (MIP) in the 2025 midterm elections "for violating the rules" set by the poll body regarding deadline for filing of publication.

"Ito po ay petisyon para ma-deny ng due course yung finile na manifestation of intent to participate ng P3PWD Partylist sa kadahilanang hindi po sila sumunod sa deadline of filing at sa publication (This is a petition to deny due course the manifestation of intent to participate by the P3PWD Partylist for the reason that they did not comply with the filing and publication)," Topacio told reporters.

"Ang nangyayari po kasi ang ginagawa po ni dating commissioner Guanzon ay tingin niya palibhasa siya'y dating commissioner ng Comelec that she is above the law. Na hindi niya kailangang sumunod sa batas at siya ay palaging pagbibigyan (What is happening is that what former Guanzon is doing is that she thinks that since she is a former commissioner of the Comelec that she is above the law. That she does not have to obey the law and that she will always be excused)," he added.

Topacio said that out of 106 partylists that submitted their MIPs, none of it included P3PWD Partylist.

"Dati siyang commisioner ng Comelec, sila yung nagtatalaga ng mga deadline, so bilang dating commissioner ng Comelec, alam mong very strict ang deadline na itinatagala ng Komisyon, so bakit hindi ka susunod? (She was a former commissioner, they are the ones who set the deadlines, so as a former commissioner of the Comelec, she must know that the deadline set by the Commission is very strict, so why didn't she follow it?" Cardema said.

"Marami namang partylist ang nag-submit hindi nila pwedeng sabihing hindi nila alam or kung ano-ano mang excuse (There are many partylists that have submitted, they can't say they don't know or any other excuse)," he added.

The deadline for filing for political parties and party lists was set on 29 December 2023.

Cardema said P3PWD submitted two weeks after the said deadline.

"Delayed na delayed talaga yung submission nila (Their submission is really delayed)," he added.

Meanwhile, Guanzon said that P3PWD is a "genuine marginalized sector" and that it "deserves a voice in Congress."

"Whatever more evil he does, R. Cardema can never be Congressman of the youth sector party list because he is overaged," Guanzon wrote in X, formerly Twitter.

"We in P3PWD Party List continue to serve our PWD sector, the elderly and their families," she added.