RONALD Cardema, disqualified as a nominee of the Duterte Youth party-list group for being overage, has been named commissioner of the National Youth Commission, an agency he chaired until last year.
Interior Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya confirmed Cardema’s designation as commissioner. The NYC is under the Department of Interior and Local Government. It was originally under the Office of the President but was transferred to the DILG in October 2018 through Executive Order No. 67.
Cardema’s designation was made public through a Facebook post made by Calamba Mayor Justin Marc Chipeco, wherein he congratulated Cardema who took his oath Monday as NYC commissioner in Calamba City in Laguna, where he is from.
In his post, Chipeco said the city is “very proud” of Cardema. Some Facebook users commented on Chipeco’s post, saying they are not proud of Cardema.
Current NYC chairman Ryan Enriquez said the agency has three commissioners — one each for Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao — and two commissioners at large, including Cardema.
Last year, Cardema stepped down as NYC chairman after applying to be a nominee for the Duterte Youth party-list. He was later disqualified by the Commission on Elections because he was overage for representative of a youth group. The law says a youth nominee should not be older than 30 years. On his admission, Cardema said he was 34 years old then.
Cardema served as NYC officer-in-charge following the resignation of Aiza Seguerra as chairman in March 2018. Cardema was then the NYC commissioner for Luzon. He was named by President Duterte as NYC chairman in August 2018.
Enriquez said Cardema’s appointment as NYC commissioner-at-large is a welcome development.
“The National Youth Commission’s campaign is about the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. I think it is a good development because he is very vocal in the fight against the NPA (New People’s Army),” said Enriquez.
