The Kabataan Partylist considered long overdue the firing on August 29 of the anti-youth, pro-Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Jr wedding godson Ronald Cardema as National Youth Commission (NYC) chairperson. The 39-year-old Cardema was replaced by Joseph Ortega, former regional director of the Department of Tourism in the Ilocos region, a bastion of the Marcos family, and part of the Ortega dynasty of La Union.

“This should have been done long ago based on the annual squandering of funds and wrong priorities of the commission under Cardema’s leadership,” the Kabataan Partylist stated. Rodrigo Duterte appointed Cardema to hold the position from 2018 to 2020 and reappointed him in 2022.

Kabataan Partylist said the Commission on Audit repeatedly criticized the NYC in 2019, 2021 and 2022 for its questionable and improper use of millions of funds. Part of the Commission’s funds were also allegedly used for the activities of the National Task Force-Elcac, which is far beyond its mandate.

Part of NYC’s role is to promote youth development by promoting policies, including assisting those elected to the Sangguniang Kabataan. Under Cardema in the commission, “SK officials were completely neglected,” Kabataan Partylist said.

It emphasizing that NYC has failed to help newly elected officials prepare for their leadership. One of KPL’s issues is the low utilization rate of the SK Mandatory and Continuing Training Fund, which is only 18%.

The NYC’s sluggish release of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for R.A. 11768 or the SK Compensation and Empowerment Law promoted and enacted by the Kabataan Partylist in the 18th Congress is also worth criticizing. SK officials including the Secretary and Treasurer should be given an honorarium by law.

“He very much lags in responding to the needs of SK and the Filipino youth but is very quick to red-tag on one hand and to conversely defend the interest and image of the sitting administration,” KPL commented. He is a famous “red-tagger,” along with his wife Ducielle Marie Suarez Cardema, representative of the bogus Duterte Youth Partylist in Congress.

Cardema turned NYC into a “training ground” for traditional politics to bolster their personal ambitions in the upcoming 2025 election and beyond, KPL said. “Cardema is a symptom of a rotten system run by an elite ruling class, and young people should never emulate him.”

Meanwhile, the Kabataan Party-list challenged the new NYC Chairperson Ortega and Commissioner-at-Large Karl Josef Legazpi to reject Cardema’s rotten leadership and politics and try to fulfill the commission’s true mandate. “An efficient and systematic training program for SK officials should be implemented and R.A. 11768 should be faithfully implemented to support and ensure the autonomy of SKs throughout the country,” he said.

The KPL meanwhile warned against the Marcos regime’s plan to use the commission for its own interests, like during the time of his dictator father. It promised to be vigilant on how the next NYC leadership will act. “SKs and other youth leaders in communities across the country should not be used for the interests of the Marcoses, especially in the upcoming 2025 elections. We will fight for the true representation of the youth at all levels,” it said.