By Edjen Oliquino @tribunephl_eao

Senator Erwin Tulfo filed a second slander lawsuit Wednesday against former lawmaker Mike Defensor, a prominent lawyer, and two former security aides who accused him of accepting millions of pesos in kickbacks from flood control projects.

The grave oral defamation complaint, filed at the Mandaluyong City Prosecutor’s Office, stems from a 16 June press conference where the respondents repeated allegations that Tulfo received suitcases filled with cash.

The latest lawsuit names Defensor, lawyer Levito Balingod, Quezon City Councilor Ranulfo Ludovica, retired military Gen. Virgilio Garcia, and former security guards Jeron Valderama and Bernard Gumban as respondents.

Tulfo previously sued Gumban on 8 June over similar claims.

In his 18-page complaint, Tulfo asked prosecutors to hold the respondents criminally liable for slander under Article 358 of the Revised Penal Code, in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act. The offense carries a penalty of more than two years in prison.

Tulfo argued that the “malicious imputation” of bribery made during the 16 June event amplified the damage caused during an earlier, unauthorized 4 June hearing.

That initial briefing was organized by former Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Rodante Marcoleta under the banner of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

Tulfo and his allies have dismissed that 4 June hearing as illegitimate, noting that a Senate leadership reorganization had already stripped Cayetano’s sister, Senator Pia Cayetano, of the committee chairmanship and installed Tulfo instead.

During the 4 June briefing, Gumban and other security aides — formerly assigned to ex-Ako Bicol Representative Elizaldy Co — claimed they delivered suitcases containing between P20 million and P50 million to a senatorial residence in Greenhills.

Valderama repeated those claims at the 16 June press conference led by Defensor at a Quezon City events venue, which organizers labeled a continuation of the Blue Ribbon probe despite the absence of any sitting senators.

Valderama accused Tulfo of receiving two medium-sized suitcases containing up to P50 million in illegal cash while Tulfo was still a member of the House of Representatives.