Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III commended Senator Erwin Tulfo for his adept handling of legislative protocols after Tulfo signed a contentious partial committee report while openly expressing his reservations.
The exchange unfolded on Tuesday during intense plenary discussions regarding the Senate Blue Ribbon panel’s partial findings on the alleged misuse of flood control funds.
Tulfo affixed his signature to the document but explicitly noted it was “with amendments,” pointing out what he considered significant gaps in the investigation’s current conclusions.
Sotto lauded the move as a sign of legislative maturity, drawing parallels to his own early days in the upper chamber.
”You have just shown your knowledge of parliamentary work. That’s what I learned in 1992,” Sotto stated, recalling a lesson passed down to him by the late former Senate President Neptali Gonzales during the 9th Congress.
”Ayaw mo yung laman ng report, pero member ka eh? Pirmahan mo edi sabihin mo ‘I dissent’ pero pumirma ka,” Sotto explained. “Because that is part of your parliamentary work. That’s why I congratulate you, Senator Erwin Tulfo. You have knowledge of your parliamentary work.”
Tulfo immediately clarified that his signature did not equate to a blanket approval of the panel’s initial findings, emphasizing that the investigation remains far from over.
“I affixed my signature not as an endorsement of every conclusion contained therein, but as a recognition that the report is, at best, incomplete. It reflects portions of the truth—but not its full measure,” Tulfo clarified.
While maintaining his commitment to accountability and justice, Tulfo voiced strong concerns over the narrow scope of the committee’s current recommendations, which target only a select few lawmakers for deeper scrutiny.
“But I cannot, in good conscience, agree with a recommendation that narrows the scope of further investigation to only a handful of our colleagues in this Chamber,” he added.
Characterizing the alleged anomalies in public flood control funding as potentially one of the largest corruption scandals in recent history, Tulfo demanded an unbiased, exhaustive inquiry, asserting that the public expects the Senate to uphold justice without fear or favor.