The designation of Sen. Erwin Tulfo as acting chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee was formalized in the plenary on Friday.
‘We would like to place on record that we have designated Sen. Erwin Tulfo to be the acting chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee inasmuch as he is the vice chair of the Public Accountability Committee,’ Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III declared on the Senate floor.
Sotto first confirmed to the media on Wednesday the decision of the majority bloc in a caucus to designate Tulfo as acting chairman of the committee.
The panel was previously headed by Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson until he resigned on October 7, citing his colleagues’ disappointment with ‘the direction’ of the body investigating anomalous flood control projects in the country.
Six senators were soon considered for the post – Erwin and Raffy Tulfo, Francis ‘Kiko Pangilinan, JV Ejercito, Pia Cayetano, and Risa Hontiveros.
According to Sotto, he suggested a meeting of the committee once Sen. Erwin returns from his official trip to discuss other ‘possibilities. The Senate will be on a month-long break starting this Friday until Nov. 10.
‘It will be a meeting, not a hearing, for now. So there, we can further discuss what the possibilities are,’ he said in Filipino.
Sotto was responding to a reporter’s question that two of the six senators considered for the post – Raffy Tulfo and Cayetano – appeared to be open to leading the committee.
What if Cayetano agrees to return to her old post as head of the panel? Sotto said it would still be up for discussion.
‘We will have to ask the committee to discuss that. It’s better if I don’t make that decision alone,’ he said.
Cayetano previously headed the blue ribbon panel during the time of then-Senate President Francis Escudero. /mcm