Erwin Tulfo

Erwin Teshiba Tulfo (Tagalog: [ˈʔɛɾwin ˈtulfo]; born August 10, 1964) is a Filipino politician, news anchor, and columnist who has served as a senator of the Philippines since 2025. He previously served as the representative for ACT-CIS Partylist and as a deputy majority leader of the Philippine House of Representatives from 2023 to 2025. He previously served as the secretary of social welfare and development from June 30 to December 27, 2022, when his appointment was blocked and bypassed by the Commission on Appointments, during the presidency of Bongbong Marcos.

After his father died in 1985, Tulfo moved to the United States with a tourist visa and spent a decade as an undocumented worker, which he claimed was done to support his family. A member of the Tulfo family of broadcasters, he was first hired as a news reporter at ABS-CBN upon returning to the Philippines in the 1990s, anchoring various news programs at the network such as TV Patrol and Pulso and hosting the shows Magandang Gabi... Bayan, Magandang Umaga, Bayan and Private I.

He co-hosted PRTV Prime Media's primetime newscast Arangkada Balita in 2025, alongside Niña Corpuz. He also hosted PTV's primetime news program Ulat Bayan from 2020 to 2022, as well as one of its AM radio counterparts: Radyo Pilipinas Uno's Erwin Tulfo: Live! or Tutok: Erwin Tulfo (2017–2022). On TV5, Tulfo hosted the programs Tutok Tulfo (2010–2012) and T3: Alliance (2011–2016), and anchored the news program Aksyon from 2010 to 2017. He has also previously worked for GMA Network, Radio Philippines Network (RPN) and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC).

In 2000, Tulfo was convicted of four counts of libel in Pasay for a series of articles he wrote for the tabloid Remate in 1999 that accused a Bureau of Customs lawyer as an "extortionist... and a smuggler". In 2011, Tulfo was fined ₱10,000 (equivalent to ₱13,912 in 2021) by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) for irresponsible coverage of the August 2010 Manila hostage crisis as host of RMN's Radyo Mo Nationwide, with him admitting to violating police instructions by interviewing the hostage taker while negotiations were ongoing.

Erwin Teshiba Tulfo was born in Tacloban on August 10, 1964, He has eight siblings, among whom include Tuchi, Bong, Joseph, Edelle, Ramon, Ben, and Raffy Tulfo, who are all his fellow journalists. His brother, Raffy, is an incumbent senator, while his sister, Wanda Corazon Teo, was a tourism secretary during the Duterte administration.

During his unsuccessful 2022 congressional confirmation hearings for secretary of social welfare and development, Tulfo was alleged by representatives Oscar Malapitan (Caloocan–1st) and Rodante Marcoleta (SAGIP) to have served in the United States Army from 1988 to 1992 and assigned on a tour in Europe from 1992 to 1996. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of the East in 2005. He is the host of his public service brand Mission X, which eventually evolved into the Erwin Tulfo Action Center.

In 2022, Tulfo was appointed secretary of social welfare and development by then-President-elect Bongbong Marcos in May 2022. However, on December 27, 2022, his appointment was blocked and bypassed by the Commission on Appointments due to citizenship issues.

On May 30, 2023, Tulfo took oath as a representative of ACT-CIS Partylist, a week after a disqualification case against him was junked by the Commission on Elections. On July 20, 2023, Comelec issued a certificate of proclamation to Tulfo, naming him as the third nominee of ACT-CIS, replacing Jeffrey Soriano, who had resigned in February 2023. Tulfo took oath once again as a partylist representative on July 31, 2023, and was named as a House Deputy Majority Leader on August 9, 2023.