The Tulfo clan has been challenged in a petition that asks the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to rule that they cannot run for office in the national and local elections.
The 22-page petition, dated February 14, was filed by lawyer Virgilio R. Garcia, who contended that the Tulfo family should be barred from pursuing public office due to infractions of the constitutional prohibition against political dynasties and matters related to their natural-born citizenship.
Garcia asked the COMELEC to disqualify several members of the Tulfo family—Rep. Erwin Tulfo of the ACT-CIIS party-list, who is running for senator; Rep. Jocelyn Pua-Tulfo of the ACT-CIIS party-list, who is running for re-election; her son, Quezon City 2nd District Rep. Ralph Wendel Tulfo; former Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo, who is the first nominee of the Turismo party-list; and broadcaster Ben Tulfo, who is also running for senator.
Jocelyn is the wife of Senator Raffy Tulfo, and Ralph is their son. Erwin, Ben, and Wanda are siblings, and Ralph is the wife of Senator Raffy Tulfo.
In the petition, Garcia said that their concurrent candidacies contravene Section 26, Article II of the 1987 Constitution, which forbids political dynasties.
“The 1987 Constitution expressly prohibits political dynasty,” Garcia stated in the petition.
He further argued that “the intention of the framers of the 1987 Constitution is to prohibit dynasty covering relationships up to the third or fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity of an incumbent… even without the definition by Congress of a political dynasty.”
Garcia added that the Tulfo family’s representation in both the House of Representatives and the Senate would have the effect of creating a monopoly of political power.
“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,” he wrote.
His description of the scenario was one of scandal and anomaly, bringing attention to worries about political concentration.
Garcia made note of the fact that a family—a father, a mother, and a son—was already represented in Congress, and that the same family intended to add three more members, making the total number of members seven. He felt this proved without a reasonable doubt that one family was holding all the political cards.
The petition disputes the eligibility of the Tulfo candidates over their citizenship. Garcia said that some family members “are not natural-born Filipinos” and, hence, are unable to hold public office.
“The Constitutional requirement of a natural-born citizen is an express qualification and must be complied with strictly by all candidates. Suffice it to state that lacking in this requirement will not qualify any aspirant to join the race, in other words, to stress this point, he or she is not a candidate,” Garcia stated in the petition.
He clarified that natural-born citizens are individuals who are citizens of the Philippines from birth, requiring no additional actions to obtain or establish their citizenship.
He stated that the reacquisition of Philippine citizenship by returning Filipinos under Republic Act 9225 does not reinstate natural-born status, as this status, once forfeited, is permanently lost.
Garcia made particular reference to the situation of Erwin Tulfo, who had previously been unable to take office as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development because of his citizenship concerns.
“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,” he said.
