Tulfo ‘dynasty’ faces disqualification case

Metro Manila, Philippines - A petition has been filed with the Commission on Elections seeking to disqualify senatorial candidates Erwin Tulfo and Ben Tulfo, along with three other family members running for seats in the House of Representatives.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the petition was filed on Monday, Feb. 17, and will be raffled off to a division for handling on Tuesday.

Brothers Erwin Tulfo, ACT-CIS party-list representative, and Ben Tulfo, a broadcaster, are among the frontrunners in pre-election senatorial surveys.

If they win, they will join their brother, Senator Raffy Tulfo. The senator’s wife, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Jocelyn Pua-Tulfo, and their son, Quezon City 1st District Rep. Ralph Tulfo, are both seeking reelection.

Another Tulfo sibling, former Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo, is vying for a congressional seat as the first nominee of the Turismo Party-list.

“Certainly, three brothers in the Senate, a sister, a wife, and a son in Congress fits perfectly within the prohibition of political dynasty and the degree of relationship intended to be covered by the framers of the Constitution,” lawyer Virgilio Garcia said in a 22-page petition.

While no law has been passed to implement the constitutional prohibition, Garcia emphasized that the charter clearly “prohibits this anomalous, monopolistic concentration of political power in one family.”

Garcia also raised concerns about the Tulfos’ citizenship, recalling that this issue prevented Erwin Tulfo’s ad interim appointment as Social Welfare Secretary from being confirmed.

“He served in the US Army and had a US passport using fictitious name. Surprisingly, and intriguingly if you like, despite that disqualification he was allowed to assume as party-list nominee of ACT-CIS,” he said.

He added that all the other respondents “resided in the United States for quite a long time,” and the burden is on them to prove they are natural-born Filipinos who have not renounced their citizenship and simply reacquired it through naturalization.

NewsWatch Plus has reached out to the Tulfo camp for comment.