Senator Erwin Tulfo has been designated as the acting chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Senate President Vicente Sotto III confirmed.
Sotto made the announcement in an ambush interview following a caucus with the majority bloc that lasted for over an hour. He said that Senators JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros, Pia Cayetano, Raffy Tulfo, and Francis Pangilinan all declined to head the powerful committee.
“None of the five wants it now. As of now, the acting chairman is Sen. Erwin Tulfo. When he comes back, we are going to conduct a Blue Ribbon meeting,” Sotto said.
According to the Senate president, the five senators opted to focus on their respective committees. Tulfo currently serves as the vice chairperson of the Blue Ribbon panel.
Sotto earlier stated that if no senator accepted the offer to lead the committee, the vice chairperson would automatically take over as acting chair.
Despite the Senate’s scheduled adjournment on Friday, Sotto assured that committee hearings will continue.
“Just because we’re on break or some are out of town doesn’t mean the Senate will not proceed,” he said. “The reason we have this break is so that the committee hearings continue, especially those of the finance committee.”
As for whether Tulfo will remain permanently in the post, Sotto said the decision will be up to the senator and the majority bloc.
The Blue Ribbon chairmanship became vacant after Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson resigned on October 7.
In his resignation letter addressed to Sotto, Lacson cited dissatisfaction among colleagues over the “direction” of the committee’s hearings into alleged anomalies in flood control projects.
“Some senators publicly and secretly pursue the narrative that I am zeroing in on several of my colleagues while purportedly protecting those members of the Lower House perceived to be the principal actors in the budget anomalies related to the substandard and ghost flood control projects,” Lacson said.
