While Sen. Raffy Tulfo entertains the thought that he would one day be the tenant in Malacanang and brother Erwin Tulfo would follow suit, the general observation is that they are better off in the airwaves rather than in the august hall also nicknamed Senate.
Fact is, the Tulfos are overexposed as media characters hunting down lowly cops who abuse the sans culottes but not rocking the boat at the Philippine National Police (PNP), known to reporters as an organization that is national in scope, civilian in nature and “police in character.” As far as observers know, not a single PNP big fish fell because of the dogged criticisms by the Tulfos, who happen to have bodyguards who also moonlight as soldiers. Still, they are adept at being arbitrators of disputes among neighbors, relatives, boyfriends and girlfriends and husbands and wives.
They can provide the quick fix needed by glassy-eyed fans and nudge the bureaucracy to move faster, perhaps faster than that added layer of bureaucracy known as Sen. Bong Go’s Malasakit Centers. Yet, the Tulfos are gunning for seats in the 24-member Senate, now reduced to 23, and the first question that must be asked of Erwin and Ben is: Are you deft at statutory construction? Technically, crafting laws is not a chore to be delegated to consultants and assistants. It requires a clear mind to discern whether laws abide by the clear mandate in the 1987 Constitution, which is to promote the general welfare, improve the economic conditions of citizens, and guarantee that justice is rendered fairly and consistently.
The Tulfos have strong rivals, among them detained Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, actor Philip Salvador who notoriously told Duterte critics in 2019– “Mamatay na kayong lahat!” and Willie Revillame, whose game show and cash dispensing antics led to the Ultra stampede that killed many of his fans. After Sen. Robinhood Padilla’s victory in 2022, and his sorry performance at the Senate, anybody who can read and write, dance and sing and make an ass of himself on stage can run and win, never mind if he doesn’t understand what Robert’s Rules of Order really means. It doesn’t have anything to do with Grab or Food Panda, by the way. US Army Gen. Henry Martyn Robert, descended from Huguenots of France, crafted those rules for deliberative assemblies. Less chaos in the rostrum of verbal conflict.
Of course, it is not only the showmen who make the Senate weirdly interesting since they do not own a franchise for being square pegs in a round hole. With the Villars for example, it has become the sanctuary of holy families, with Manny Villar as the patriarch, Cynthia as matriarch, Mark as the son and former public works secretary responsible for flood control, and the latest addition, Camille Villar Genuino, whose most famous act at the House of Representatives was to scrap the franchise of ABS-CBN, or the brother-sister team of Pia and Alan Peter, both surnamed Cayetano. Incidentally, the record shows Alan Peter became a true-blue Pinoy in 1999 when his name was stricken off the Federal Register as a US citizen. The father of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian– plastics king William Gatchalian — was a naturalized citizen of Chinese descent.
Never forget the best and the brightest from the Duterte camp, Sens. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, who both want to investigate the Duterte “war on drugs” despite their big role in purging the population of addicts, miscreants and anyone whose face the Malacanang overlords do not like. Of course, you also have international lawyer Sen. Francis “Tol” Tolentino at the Upper Chamber, the guy who made “twerking” a popular thing by bringing in young girls to twerk their way to the delight of lascivious minds in one fine house in Laguna years ago. Aside from the festering problem with pushing actors, comedians and commentators and the spawn of political dynasties to take over the Senate is that wealth, popularity, name recall and false sense of achievement by foul-mouthed “journalists are exactly the reasons why the Upper Chamber is going to seed.
The Villars have become experts in using political power to advance their interest as landlords, whether it calls for rerouting traffic, changing the contours of highways, or stopping reclamation projects deemed to impact adversely on their own projects. Incidentally, the Villars may still add 18 water projects in Cavite to their business portfolio in case they whack Manny Pangilinan out of the way. The 67 water districts they control are not enough to make Manny the “Pinoy water king”? Reminds us of one politician who railroaded the Erap impeachment because a state bank did not lend him P500 million.
In the case of Tulfo brothers and sister Wanda Tulfo Teo, who happened to be the tourism secretary in 2018. Wanda awarded a P60-million deal for tourism advertising in one program on PTV-4, which has a single digit share in viewership, and the program was controlled by the firm of her brothers Erwin Tulfo and Ben Tulfo. To young to be afflicted with dementia, Wanda’s excuse for not junking the award was that she did not know that the production outfit was owned by her brothers. Rather than be called the nepo triplets, the Tulfos promised to return the money. They never did. It would not be egregious to suggest that no one votes for the Tulfos until they have returned the money to the national treasury.
