Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri on Wednesday dismissed rumors that Senator Francis Tolentino has allegedly resigned as chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
"There's nothing. He (Tolentino) is abroad. He cannot resign in absentia," Zubiri told reporters in a chance interview when asked whether Tolentino had submitted his resignation as the panel's chair.
Rumors claimed that Tolentino resigned from his post in the powerful Senate panel effectively beginning January next year.
Before leaving for the United States, the senator, whose term is set to expire in 2025, has allegedly packed his belongings from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's office.
Tolentino's staff have also "vacated" the office.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva also asserted that he has not seen any resignation letter from Tolentino's office.
"I haven't seen it," Villanueva said when asked whether Tolentino had submitted his resignation.
It is unclear what the reason for his resignation was but an unnamed source close to the senator's inner circle said that the senator wanted to focus on his reelection bid.
Tolentino has been leading the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee since August last year, which has investigated several controversies involving government officials and agencies such as the Sugar Regulatory Administration's Sugar Order No. 6, and the Department of Education's "overpriced laptops."
Before being announced as the chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee last July, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano previously expressed his interest in leading the panel that was tasked to investigate alleged wrongdoings of the government, its officials, and its attached agencies, in exchange for joining the majority bloc.
