By TONYO CRUZ
Bulatlat.com
Duterte Youth chair Ronald Cardema, his wife and former Rep. Ducielle Marie Doctor Suarez Cardema, and his sister-in-law and incumbent Rep. Drixie Mae Doctor Suarez “Cardema” should face multiple charges of material misrepresentation, lying under oath or perjury, and other acts prohibited by law.
Bulalat today makes available to the public these documents, for whatever legal purpose they may serve:
Even the notary public before whom Ronald Cardema and Drixie Mae Suarez “Cardema” took an oath and presented identity documents for the verification of Duterte Youth’s Certificate of Nomination and Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination for the 2025 elections should also face sanction by the Supreme Court.
The poll body and the highest court should not turn a blind eye at the Duterte Youth’s blatant disrespect for rules on the filing of sworn documents, and on the notarization of such documents. What these shady characters have done is a disrespect to institutions and to the public.
It is actually a pity that Ronald Cardema’s insatiable hunger for power and legal shortcuts have forced his wife Ducielle Marie, sister-in-law Drixie Mae and the Suarez family into a humiliating position.
Any family would be happy to have family members to be Members of Congress. But it appears they have to be hidden, or forced to hide, just so Ronald Cardema would hog the spotlight.
Ronald Cardema would never ever be a youth representative. So he apparently thought of the next best thing: make his wife bearing his surname be the congresswoman, and later even compel his sister-in-law to use — without legal basis and with an apparent objective of deceiving the public — his surname.
Unlike Ronald Cardema, Drixie Mae Suarez appears to be a legitimate student leader and student athlete. A source says she entered UP by way of varsity scholarship. She could really stand for herself, and her own name.
We do not know what the mother and father of both Ducielle Marie and Drixie Mae may have felt every since they came into contact with Ronald Cardema. We do not know if they are proud of this association, or whether they willingly allowed their daughters to hide their identity as their daughters. In the case of Drixie Mae, it is as if she is ashamed of her maternal and paternal surnames, and would rather carry Cardema’s.
It is to be expected that any Member of Congress would be excited to go back to their high school and college alma maters. Being a lawmaker is a high achievement, but Drixie Mae has not been able to proudly go back to Mater Carmeli and UP Clark. She may not be ready to answer the simple question why she has become a Cardema when for most of her life, she was a Suarez.
The only recorded instance that Drixie Mae had been able to return to UP as a Cardema was for a social event hosted by the UP President for UP alumni who are congressmen and senators. She had no classmates and teachers there who would ask her uncomfortable questions about her identity. (It is disappointing though that UP apparently did not exercise due diligence to check.)
