A lawyer filed a petition with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify the Tulfos from the upcoming May elections, alleging that they fail to meet the qualifications required to seek a public post.
The petition names the Tulfos: Rep. Erwin Tulfo, Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo, Rep. Ralph Wendel Tulfo, Wanda Teo, and Ben Tulfo.
Atty. Virgilio Garcia filed the petition, claiming that the Tulfos are part of a political dynasty and do not fulfill “the essential requirement of being a natural-born Filipino citizen” under the Constitution.
Garcia argued that the respondents are disqualified under the 1987 Constitution, as they do not meet the qualifications outlined in the document.
The petition states that the respondents are members of the same family, which the 1987 Constitution prohibits.
“They are within the first and second civil degree of consanguinity or of affinity of each other,” the petition reads.
It continues: “Respondents are all related to incumbent Senator Rafael Teshiba Tulfo (a.k.a. Raffy Tulfo) within the first or second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity. Respondents Cong. Erwin, Ben, and Wanda Tulfo-Teo are younger siblings of Senator Raffy Tulfo. Respondent Cong. Jocelyn Pua-Tulfo is the wife of Senator Raffy, while respondent Cong. Ralph is their son.”
“There is already an existing anomalous (and) scandalous father-mother-son (dynamic) in Congress, and this family wants to add three more, making a total of seven of them, all in same Congress. That is clearly a concentration of political power in one family,” Garcia said.
Rep. Erwin Tulfo is a candidate for senator in the May elections. Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo, seeking re-election, is the wife of Sen. Raffy Tulfo. Their son, Rep. Ralph Tulfo, is also running for re-election as the representative of Quezon City’s 2nd district.
Meanwhile, Tulfo-Teo is the first nominee for the Turismo party-list, and Ben Tulfo is running for senator.
Garcia noted that Erwin Tulfo was “blocked from taking” his position as Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare due to concerns about his citizenship.
“He served in the U.S Army and had a U.S. passport using fictitious name. Surprisingly, intriguingly if you like, despite that disqualification he was allowed to assume as a party-list nominee of ACT-CIS,” the petition reads.
“To prevent a mockery of our sacred election process, respondents, who all claim to be qualified to run for senator or for congressman, because they are natural-born Filipinos must prove before being qualified as a candidate that they are indeed natural-born Filipinos,” Garcia said.
Earlier this year, Tulfo acknowledged that he had once been an undocumented worker in the United States, often referred to as “TNT”, or “tago nang tago”.
He made this admission after social media allegations claimed he used a false identity to obtain an American passport.
Additionally, Garcia stated in the petition that the respondents “resided in the United States for quite a long time”.
