Ben Tulfo runs for senator, shuns dynasty tag even as T3 in Senate looms

If both Erwin and Ben win, they will join their brother Senator Raffy Tulfo in the Senate. The trio had a TV show once in which they were collectively referred to as T3.

MANILA, Philippines – Broadcaster Ben Tulfo formalized his senatorial run as an independent candidate on Saturday, October 5, joining in the 2025 race his brother Erwin, who is part of the administration’s senatorial slate.

If both men win, which is highly likely based on pre-election surveys, they will join their brother Senator Raffy Tulfo in the 24-member upper chamber. The trio had a TV show once in which they were collectively referred to as T3.

But for Ben, even if three from the family hold office as senators at the same time, he doesn’t believe that they would create a political dynasty.

“We don’t have any district. Maybe at the [local] executive level, you can say that, when you become a governor or mayor, because you have a district. But running for the Senate is a national office, you can’t have a dynasty,” he said.

Ben has a successful career spanning more than three decades in the media industry, and has worked on print, radio, television, and even online.

He is the brains behind BITAG, a documentary-reality show that exposes modus operandi of criminals.

He and his brothers’ journalism style — in which they listen to their aggrieved guests and confront on-air the subject of their complaints — has cultivated a mass following, especially among Filipinos who have lost their faith in the country’s justice system.

Ben said this was his reason for running.

“We realized after helping a lot of people for the last 22 years, they keep coming back. [It’s a] Broken system,” Ben said.

But the Tulfo brand of justice has also drawn criticisms from media groups.

When Ben reportedly berated Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia during a live interview in 2019 over a payment dispute involving a complainant and the city government, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemned Ben’s actions.

“Real journalists seek out the truth — they are not the Messiah of the oppressed,” read the statement of the Bacolod chapter of the NUJP at the time.

Currently, Ben’s BITAG channel on YouTube has 6.11 million subscribers, making it one of the most successful Filipino-owned media outlets on the platform.

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In 2018, Ben and Erwin were asked to return P60 million to the government after the Commission on Audit flagged payment for ad placements by the Department of Tourism, then led by their sister Wanda Teo, on Kilos Pronto, the PTV blocktimer show hosted by Ben and Erwin. The show was produced by Bitag Media Unlimited, of which Ben is the CEO.

Erwin, a former ABS-CBN broadcast journalist, was the first Department of Social Welfare and Development secretary of the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., but his appointment was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments over libel issues and his American citizenship. He then got into the House of Representatives as one of the three party-list representatives of ACT-CIS after the party’s third nominee resigned. – Rappler.com