THE Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) has exclusive jurisdiction over disqualification cases against a winning senatorial candidate who has been proclaimed, taken oath, and assumed office.

This was the ruling of the Supreme Court En Banc in G.R. No. 266053, decided on April 3, 2024, where it upheld the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) dismissal of the disqualification case against Senator Raffy T. Tulfo.

Tulfo ran for senator during the May 2022 general elections.

A month before the elections, his alleged wife, Julie Licup Pearson, filed a petition to disqualify him from running for public office on the following grounds: 1) he had been convicted of libel, a crime involving moral turpitude; and 2) he had allegedly committed an election offense by illegally advertising his candidacy on his show, called “Raffy Tulfo in Action.”

The Comelec First Division dismissed the petition for failure to attach the required proof of service.

After obtaining the third-highest number of votes, Tulfo was proclaimed a winning senator, took his oath, and assumed office.

Pearson moved for reconsideration, but the Comelec denied it for lack of jurisdiction.

She then sought to reverse the Comelec’s decision before the Supreme Court through a petition for certiorari.

The Court, citing Section 17, Article VI of the Constitution, and established jurisprudence, clarified the division of powers in election disputes.

It stated that once a winning candidate had been proclaimed, taken oath, and assumed office, the Comelec’s jurisdiction over election contests relating to their election, returns, and qualifications ceases, and the SET assumes jurisdiction.

Pearson failed to timely file the appropriate case before the SET and cannot remedy this failure by invoking the Court’s certiorari powers.

AUTHOR PROFILE

People's Journal