By Ferdinand Patinio | Philippine News Agency
The First and Second Divisions of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) dismissed the petitions seeking to disqualify Senator-elect Erwin Tulfo and the two nominees of Bagong Henerasyon (BH) party-list in the May 12 midterm elections.
In a 25-page decision promulgated on May 22, the Second Division junked the disqualification case filed by Toto Causing and Graft-Free Philippines Foundation Inc. (GFPFI) against Tulfo on several grounds—stressing that Tulfo’s alleged citizenship issue should have been raised in a petition to cancel his certificate of candidacy.
The ruling stated, “In this case, Petitioners improperly combined in a single pleading grounds that pertain separately and exclusively to a petition for disqualification and a petition to deny due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy. This defect also warrants the dismissal of the instant Petition; In view of the multiple grounds already established for the dismissal of the Petition, the other matters and issues raised by the parties no longer merit any consideration.”
The petition stemmed from Tulfo’s previous libel conviction and his supposed US citizenship.
“Having served his sentence on 17 February 2011, Respondent’s disqualification due to conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude was deemed removed on 16 February 2016, which marked the expiration of the five-year period from his service of sentence,” the Comelec division said.
“Therefore, for the 2025 NLE (national and local elections), Respondent is not disqualified as a candidate for Senator.”
Tulfo, who ran under the administration-backed “Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas” coalition, placed 4th among the 12 winning senatorial candidates after garnering 17,118,881 votes.
Meanwhile, Comelec’s First Division said it found that the petitioner seeking to disqualify the nominees of BH party-list, lawyer Russel Stanley Geronimo, failed to submit pertinent documents to support his petition against First Nominee Robert Gerard Lopez Nazal Jr. and Fifth Nominee Maria Editha Tan Alcantara.
“In view of the foregoing, the Commission (First Division) hereby resolves to dismiss the instant Petition,” the First Division said in a three-page promulgation.
Among the important documents the petitioner failed to submit was a copy of the Certificate of Nomination-Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination (CON-CAN), “which would have been vital in order to properly verify the necessary information alleged in the Petition such as the name of the party, organization or coalition, names and respective addresses of the nominees and other information thereto included pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 11045.”
“The aforementioned CON-CAN must be submitted in order for the petition to be considered sufficient in form,” it added.
In an interview, Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the First Division did not require the respondents to answer the petition since the case is “really dismissible”, “Why would you still have [BH Party-list] answer if there is only a technicality, if the case is really dismissible? There was no payment of the filing fee, no verification, no copy furnishing to the respondent. Things like that do not give the Commission jurisdiction.”
The petitioner has five days to appeal the decision or it becomes final and executory, Garcia added, “Five days after he received the decision, the Comelec’s decision will become final and executory. And therefore, the National Board of Canvassers will order the proclamation of the said party list, including the nominee who won.”
BH party-list won a seat in the House of Representatives following the 2025 midterm polls, but Comelec suspended its proclamation on May 19 due to the pending petition.
