Manila: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has dismissed the second disqualification case filed against senatorial candidate and ACT-CIS party-list Representative Erwin Tulfo.
According to Philippines News Agency, the Comelec First Division released a three-page ruling on Thursday, rejecting the petition filed by the Graft-Free Philippines Foundation, Inc. and Berteni Causing. The dismissal was due to a technicality, specifically the petitioners' failure to comply with the requirement to submit a Proof of Service of the petition to Tulfo. The poll body emphasized that failing to meet mandatory requirements warrants dismissal of the petition.
The ruling stated, "Upon scrutiny of the submitted Petition and its attachments, it appears that Petitioner failed to submit a Proof of Service of the Petition with complete annexes to the Respondent or an Affidavit of Service, in case the former is not possible. Hence, it cannot be ascertained whether the Respondent received a copy of the Petition with complete annexes."
Graft-Free Philippines and Causing had filed the disqualification case on February 25, arguing that Erwin Tulfo is part of a looming political dynasty in the Senate, given the presence of his brother, Senator Raffy Tulfo, and another brother, broadcast journalist Ben Tulfo, who is also seeking a Senate seat. They also contended that Erwin should be disqualified for being an American citizen, which they claimed violated the Constitution, along with his conviction for four counts of libel deemed final by the Supreme Court.
This is not the first time the Comelec's First Division has dismissed a disqualification petition against the Tulfo family. Earlier, a petition filed by lawyer Virgilio Garcia sought to disqualify five candidates from the Tulfo clan but was dismissed due to insufficiency in form. The petitioner failed to attach the certificates of candidacy of senatorial bets Erwin and Ben, party-list nominees Jocelyn Pua-Tulfo (ACT-CIS) and Wanda Tulfo-Teo (Turismo), and reelectionist Quezon City Representative Ralph Tulfo.
