Comelec junks case to disqualify Tulfos
Saying it was “insufficient in form,” a petition seeking to disqualify five members of the Tulfo family from running for different posts in the May elections was dismissed on Tuesday by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In a three-page order, the poll body’s First Division said that petitioner Virgilio Garcia failed to attach to his Feb. 14 pleading copies of the respondents’ certificates of candidacy (COCs) “which would have been vital in order to properly verify the necessary information alleged in the petition.”
“Consequently, it cannot also be verified whether the petition was properly served to the respondents,” the order stated.
Named respondents in the case were ACT-CIS party ist Rep. Erwin Tulfo and his brother Ben, both running for senator; their sister Wanda Teo-Tulfo, first nominee for the party list group Turismo, their sister-in-law Rep. Jocelyn Pua-Tulfo and nephew Rep. Ralph Wendel Tulfo, wife and son, respectively, of their brother, incumbent Sen. Raffy Tulfo.
The petitioner is a retired military general who served in the Judge Advocate General Service. He is running for the congressional seat in Quezon City’s second district against the incumbent, Ralph Tulfo.
According to the First Division, the procedures in the filing of disqualification cases were laid down in Comelec Resolution No. 11046 promulgated in August last year.
Under the resolution, parties “shall” observe procedures and failure to do so may result in the dismissal of the petition for being “insufficient in form.”
Strict compliance
“It bears emphasis that the afore-cited provision used the word ‘shall’. The term ‘shall’ is a word of command and one which has always or which must be given a compulsory meaning and it is generally imperative or mandatory. Thus compliance thereto is strictly enjoined. Settled is the rule that failure to comply with a mandatory requirement warrants the dismissal of the petition,” the First Division said.
Two of the division’s members, Commissioners Ernest Ferdinand Maceda Jr. and Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal, voted in favor of dismissal while Presiding Commissioner Aimee Ferolino did not take part as she was away on official business.
Technicality
With the dismissal of his petition, Garcia can file a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec en banc.
Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia, in an interview with reporters, admitted that the dismissal was based on a “technicality” so the merits of the case were no longer discussed.
He said the petitioner, being a lawyer, should know the importance of complying with rules because the completeness of the documents required to be attached to the petition could determine if the poll body has validly acquired jurisdiction over the case.
The COCs, Garcia said, could easily be obtained from the Comelec website.
“It’s up to them how to explain that defect that can be cured. If I’m a lawyer, I know how to reply to the question as to why the case should not be dismissed due to the lack of the COCs. They should just have a good reason and they can do it after availing [of] a remedy,” he said.
“There’s so many ways of skinning a cat. Maybe there was a lack of proper explanation in the petition … as to why the attachments were not produced or [included],” he added.
Garcia had sought the disqualification of the Tulfos for allegedly violating the antipolitical dynasty prohibition in the constitution.
“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 said.
Garcia also said the Tulfos should be disqualified for “not possessing the essential requirement of being a natural-born citizen.”
“To prevent a mockery of our sacred election process, respondents, who all claim to run for senator or for congressman because they are natural-born Filipinos, must prove before being qualified as candidate that they are indeed natural-born Filipinos,” he stressed.
