Erwin Tulfo tells Cayetano: Consult our Senate psychiatrist

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Erwin Tulfo on Tuesday told Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano to consult a psychiatrist after the latter criticized him and his brother, Sen. Raffy Tulfo, amid a standoff between the Senate majority and minority blocs.

According to Tulfo, Cayetano may just simply be stressed, which is why he should consider consulting a doctor.

He said this in response to the Senate president when he said he would’ve reported him to the Tulfos if they weren’t Tulfos themselves.

READ: Cayetano answers Raffy Tulfo’s challenge to appear in Senate

“Maybe he needs to see a doctor and get himself checked. How can he say he’s going to report us to Tulfo? We are Tulfo,” said Tulfo in Filipino, in an interview on TV Patrol.

READ: Tulfo challenges Cayetano: If you’re brave, come to the Senate

“What are you going to report? You’re the one who’s in the wrong. All we want is for you to show up for work. It’s embarrassing, we’ve already gone two days without a session,” he added.

Tulfo likewise clapped back against another of Cayetano’s criticisms, particularly when he accused the brothers of being staunch supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs.

“Perhaps Sen. Alan Cayetano needs to get checked by a psychiatrist or a psychologist. We have them here in the Senate,” he said once again.

“The issue is not about the drug war,” he added.

Tulfo then explained that while they did support the drug war initially, they stopped doing so after endless claims that suspects had “fought back.”

‘Facebook ng Facebook’

Tulfo also took a swipe at Cayetano’s frequent Facebook broadcasts, saying the Senate president appeared to spend more time livestreaming than attending to his duties.

“Maybe he should just become a vlogger instead. He has time to do livestreams and vlogs, but he can’t carry out his duties here or fulfill his responsibilities as Senate president. What does that tell you? The public’s money paying his salary is being wasted,” said Tulfo, who said senators earn over P10,000 daily.

Tulfo then once again rejected comparisons between the minority bloc’s earlier walkout and the majority’s continued absence from Senate sessions.

The senator explained that the minority’s move was to object to what they viewed as an attempt to railroad changes to Senate rules without proper debate—the majority, on the other hand, simply refused to attend sessions, seemingly defending their colleague Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who is facing plunder and graft charges in connection with the flood control scandal.

With this, Tulfo backed his brother, Raffy’s, call for Cayetano to resign as Senate president amid repeated violations of Senate rules, including failing to preside over sessions and allegedly neglecting to properly notify Senate leaders of his absence.

This, as Tulfo himself acknowledged that the minority bloc remains powerless to oust Cayetano as they lack the numbers to do so.

“We don’t have the numbers. So how can we do that? We need numbers. We’re just 11, we can’t take the Senate (leadership) back,” he said.

All this developed as Cayetano and the rest of the majority bloc’s absence has already caused two plenary sessions to be cancelled.

This means several bills and many other agendas have been left in limbo as the majority refuses to cooperate in holding Senate sessions.

Due to this, the minority bloc has already called for Cayetano’s resignation, citing “abandonment of responsibility, dereliction of duty, and a blatant disregard of the rules that govern this institution.” /cb