Photo courtesy of Ping Lacson/Facebook.
Senator Panfilo Lacson thanked Sen. Erwin Tulfo after the latter disclosed that some senators had tried to stop him from signing a Blue Ribbon Committee report on alleged irregularities in flood control projects.
Lacson said Tulfo’s statement confirmed his suspicion on why the committee’s partial report had failed to gather enough signatures for sponsorship before the Senate plenary.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Lacson said Tulfo had spoken the truth about why the report was left hanging despite the seriousness of its findings.
Lacson also shared a portion of Tulfo’s interview with broadcast journalist Jessica Soho, where Tulfo recalled being discouraged from signing the report because some of those who could be affected by it were supposedly among their colleagues.
Tulfo later told DWIZ that some senators questioned his decision to sign the report and made him feel that he was not acting like part of the group.
Tulfo said he signed the report as then-vice chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee and believed any objections or proposed changes should have been raised during plenary debates.
He said senators with concerns about the report should have allowed it to move forward instead of blocking it from reaching the floor.
Although the report was not sponsored in plenary, Lacson said its contents had been entered into the Senate record and forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman. Tulfo, now chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, said he planned to inhibit from future flood control hearings after being accused by alleged former bagmen of Rep. Zaldy Co of receiving kickbacks, an allegation he denied.