MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) upheld its previous decision that allowed broadcaster Raffy Tulfo to join the 2022 senatorial race, in which he placed third.

The seven-member Comelec en banc unanimously junked with finality on Tuesday, February 28, a disqualification case filed against Tulfo by Julieta Licup Pearson, who claimed to be his legal wife.

It said that the motion for reconsideration filed by Pearson provided insufficient evidence to warrant the reversal of the ruling made by the Comelec’s First Division in March 2022.

“It bears noting that Respondent has already been proclaimed as senator on May 18, 2022, and has taken his oath of office on June 22, 2022, and assumed office… The Commission has already been divested of its jurisdiction over the petition seeking disqualification of a sitting member of the Senate,” the ruling read, adding that the matter now belongs to the Senate Electoral Tribunal, based on jurisprudence.

Pearson had alleged that there was material misrepresentation in Tulfo’s certificate of candidacy (COC) wherein he did not indicate her as his spouse. She had filed a bigamy case against Tulfo.

In her October 25, 2021 petition, Pearson said she and Tulfo were married in October 1982 in Capas, Tarlac, with the marriage supposedly never nullified.

“This misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy was done by him fully aware that he is not legally married to his declared wife in the COC, Jocelyn Pua Tulfo,” the petition dated October 25 read.

Tulfo admitted in 2019 that he had a child with Pearson, but claimed that she was just trying to extort money from him.

Then-acting Comelec chairperson Socorro Inting confirmed to reporters in February 2022 that the petition was junked, and the resolution promulgated a month later noted that Pearson failed to comply with the mandatory requirements in the filing of a petition.

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Tulfo, a newbie in the upper chamber, was among the 12 candidates who secured a seat in the Senate in the May 2022 polls, placing third with 23.3 million votes. – Rappler.com

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