Sen. Erwin Tulfo on Wednesday called on his colleagues to resume regular Senate sessions, saying lawmakers have a duty to the Filipino people who pay their salaries and expect them to perform their responsibilities.
“Whether we report for work or not, we are being paid by our employers. Our employer is the Filipino people. We should be ashamed. Let's come to work. Let's do our job. If you still love your work and if you still care about your constituents,” Tulfo said in an interview.
Tulfo attributed the current tensions in the Senate to disagreements over the Blue Ribbon Committee report on the government's flood control program. He claimed some senators opposed the report because it mentioned lawmakers whose names surfaced during the investigation, contributing to the leadership dispute that eventually disrupted Senate sessions.
The senator also alleged that some lawmakers skipped recent sessions in protest over the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, resulting in a lack of quorum needed to conduct official business.
Tulfo stressed that committee hearings alone are not enough to move legislation forward. “We can conduct hearings all we want, but at the end of the day, proposed bills have to be brought to the floor for debate and discussion,” he said. “If you're not calling a session and there's no quorum, how can we discuss the measures being heard in committee?”
He also claimed that Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano failed to properly coordinate with both majority and minority leaders before sessions were canceled, saying such decisions should be communicated through official channels.
Tulfo appealed to Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda and Sen. Joel Villanueva to attend future sessions to help establish a quorum and allow the chamber to continue its legislative work.
“The taxpayers' money is not easy to earn,” Tulfo said. “It comes from the sweat and hard work of the Filipino people, and that is what pays the salaries of senators.”
