Comelec: Disqualification case filed vs Tulfo brothers, 3 kin

ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo (right) and his brother, broadcaster Ben Tulfo (left) (INQUIRER file photos)

MANILA, Philippines — A disqualification case was filed Monday against senatorial candidates ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo and his brother, broadcaster Ben Tulfo, and three other members of the Tulfo clan, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the case, filed by a petitioner identified as a certain Virgilio Garcia, will be raffled to the poll body’s two divisions on Tuesday.

Aside from Ben and Erwin, also named in the disqualification petition were ACT-CIS Rep. Jocelyn Pua-Tulfo, Quezon City 2nd District Rep. Ralph Wendel Tulfo, and Turismo party-list nominee Wanda Tulfo-Teo.

Petitioner Garcia cited the respondents being members of what he deemed as a political dynasty as a ground for this disqualification petition.

“WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed of the Honorable Commission that, after due process, respondents be declared as constituting a POLITICAL DYNASTY by express prohibition under the Constitution and are therefore not qualified as candidates to seek public office in the National and Local Elections in May 2025,” the 21-page petition read.

The petitioner noted that the five respondents are related to incumbent senator Raffy Tulfo “within the first or second civil degree of consanguinity or of affinity.”

“The 1987 prohibits this anomalous monopolistic concentration of political power in one family,” the petition read.

The complaint cited Article II, Section 26 which states “The State shall guarantee equal access to all opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

The complaint also cited the citizenship issue of Erwin.

In November 2022, discussions on Erwin’s appointment as Department of Social Welfare and Development secretary were deferred by the Commission on Appointments (CA) due to legal issues over his citizenship.

After the CA hearing, Erwin admitted he became an American citizen in 1988, but he stressed that he regained his Filipino citizenship in 2022 as part of the requirements for his appointment as a public official.

“Respondent Incumbent Representative Erwin Teshiba Tulfo was prevented from assuming as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development on his questionable citizenship,” the petition stated.

“Surprisingly, intriguingly if you like, despite that disqualification he was allowed to assume as a party-list nominee of ACT-CIS,” it further said.

Previously, Comelec chief Garcia said Comelec could not decide on its own when it came to the eligibility of Erwin’s candidacy for senator.

“If there is no formal case, the Comelec has nothing to resolve,” he also said in Filipino, stressing that the poll body could only act on its own (motu propio) only when it comes to nuisance candidate cases.

Garcia reiterated that the Supreme Court ruled that the Comelec’s role is “ministerial” when it comes to accepting certificates of candidacy (COC) and only when a registered voter files a petition against a certain aspirant could the poll body act on it.

Garcia said this means that “even if a personality might have an issue, we would have to accept their certificate of candidacy.”

Erwin  said the cases and past issues surfaced because he was ranking high in the surveys for the 2025 senatorial race.

Latest Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations surveys showed that he is the frontrunner in the senatorial race while Ben also made it to the top 12. 

Erwin is part of the 12-member slate backed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

 Meanwhile, Ben already rejected the political dynasty tag against them.

“As to the question of dynasty. Yes, we’re [a] dynasty in terms of helping people — in the media first,” Ben said in an interview after filing his certificate of candidacy in Manila Hotel Tent City on Oct. 4, 2024.

Ben noted that the Tulfo brothers do not have a district, which he said enables local elective officials to form a dynasty.

“We don’t have a district. Maybe on the executive level, you could say that when you run for governor or mayor because you have a district. But running for the Senate, it’s a national office, you cannot have a dynasty,” he said then, partly in Filipino.

Ben also said that it was not their fault if he and his brothers just happened to be in the same profession.

“Just like the family of lawyers. Everybody wants to be a lawyer because the daddy was a lawyer, the mom was a lawyer, so everybody calls them family [of] lawyers. Sometimes a family of doctors, [a] family of engineers. Because of the influence of a member of the family, we decided to love the profession and respect the profession and value the particular profession, how can you call that a dynasty?” he said.

“It’s not our fault; people are supposed to pick,” he added.