MANILA - The public can "file any case they want" following the approval of former Commission on Elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon as a substitute nominee of the P3PWD party-list, the acting spokesperson of the poll body said Thursday.

Party-list organizations may still substitute their nominees even after May 9 pending approval of the Comelec, an official earlier said.

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This is because Comelec cannot force party-list nominees to serve their terms, according to Comelec acting spokesperson Rex Laudiangco.

"Nobody can force you to remain as a nominee, this is a free country.
Comelec does not have the power to do that if they really wanted to vacate their post, their nomination. They can always do that," he told ANC's Headstart.

"The public at large can still file any case they want. Really there is a need perhaps to amend the law but until then Comelec is tied."

National Youth Commission chairman Ronald Cardema, who was disqualified by Comelec in 2019 as representative of the Duterte Youth Party-list for being overaged, said he would oppose the approval of Guanzon as a substitute nominee.

Guanzon at the time largely opposed Cardema's nomination and alleged the latter had threatened her life for this.

"Pwede tayong mag-file ng petition against this circumvention of the law. Actually siya ng gumamit ng terminong iyon, 'mockery and circumvention of the law," he said in a Facebook live early Thursday.

(We can file a petition agains this circumvention of the law. Actually she was the one who used that term, 'mockery and circumvention of the law.)

"So pwede tayong mag-oppose (we can oppose this) and we will try to oppose this and file our petition maybe today or tomorrow in the Comelec."

The party-list has until June 19 to publish its new list of nominees after which the Comelec en banc "will be issuing the necessary certificates of proclamation," Laudiangco said.