SC affirms dismissal of disqualification case vs Raffy Tulfo
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) which dismissed the disqualification case against Sen. Raffy Tulfo.
In a press release on Monday evening, the SC en banc said that the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) has the sole jurisdiction over disqualification cases against a winning senatorial candidate who has been “proclaimed, taken oath and assumed office.”
It can be recalled that Tulfo ranked third in the Senate race during the 2022 elections, garnering 23,166,449 votes.
The case was filed a month before the elections. Julie Licup Pearson, his alleged wife, filed a disqualification case against Tulfo before the Comelec.
She argued that Tulfo was convicted of the crime of libel and allegedly committed an election offense by unlawfully promoting his candidacy on his show, "Raffy Tulfo in Action."
Tulfo was later proclaimed a winning senator, took his oath and assumed office after the elections which made Pearson file a motion for reconsideration before the Comelec.
The poll body, however, denied the petition for the lack of jurisdiction. This prompted Tulfo’s alleged wife to file a petition for certiorari before the SC.
In dismissing Pearson’s plea, the SC said that once a winning candidate had been “proclaimed, taken oath and assumed office,” the disqualification cases would be governed by the SET and Comelec’s jurisdiction would cease.
“Pearson failed to timely file the appropriate case before the SET and cannot remedy this failure by invoking the Court’s certiorari powers,” SC’s evening press release read.
As of writing, the SC has yet to release a full copy of the decision.
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