MANILA, Philippines — Former National Youth Commission (NYC) chief Ronald Cardema on Saturday said Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon hired an “emissary” to extort money and ask favors in exchange of the Duterte Youth accreditation.

Cardema alleged that the emissary asked money and some favors to convince Guanzon to approve the party-list’s accreditation in the 2019 polls.

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“Noong hapon ng Jan. 16, tumawag yung emisaryo ni Commissioner Guanzon sa atin ang sinasabi nila ‘Mr. Cardema ma-approve lang ang Duterte Youth kung meron majority kasama si Commissioner Guanzon.’ Meron silang hininging pabor at pera sa atin,” Cardema said on in a press conference in Quezon City.

Cardema said the emissary, who is a congresswoman, talked to him about the deals through Viber messages.

“Kilala sa Congress yan, babae yan ang taga-deal ni Commissioner Guanzon sa kongreso. Siya mismo ang tagapag-deal,” Cardema said.

Cardema claimed that the emissary asked his help for an appointment of an attorney to become a judge of a Regional Trial Court in Iloilo.

“Pinapakinggan ko yung emissary ni Commissioner Guanzon, appointment ng isang attorney para maging RTC judge ng IloIlo,” Cardema said.

“Sabi ko yes po, hingin ko po yung pag-file. Ano sasabihin ko? Tatanggihan ko ba si Guanzon? Yes lang kami nang yes,” he added.

Cardema also accused Guanzon’s camp of extorting money worth P2 million in exchange of the accreditation of his partylist.

Just minutes after the press conference, Guanzon questioned Cardema’s accusations.

“Cardema held a presscon accusing me of demanding a favor in exchange for registration of his PL. wey???! Didn’t I vote yes to the registration of his PL? how come no Judge related to me was appointed?” Guanzon said in a tweet. /jpv

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Cardema held a presscon accusing me of demanding a favor in exchange for registration of his PL. wey???! Didn't I vote yes to the registration of his PL? how come no Judge related to me was appointed? — Rowena V. Guanzon (@commrguanzon) August 17, 2019

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