Senator Erwin Tulfo on Wednesday, Sept. 24, clarified his earlier statement that the government must sometimes “bend the law to please the people,” stressing that he never meant to encourage violating the law.

In a chance interview, Tulfo explained that this remark referred to exercising flexibility in enforcing it, particularly for humanitarian reasons.

“Siguro it was just born out of anger na I said na bend the law to please the people. What I meant was bend the law for humanitarian reasons,” Tulfo said.

“When you said bend the law, you enforce the law because of flexibility and for humanitarian reasons. Pero I didn’t say na we have to break the law, violate the law. No, I didn’t mean that,” he added.

Tulfo made the clarification after drawing reactions on social media, following his strong call for contractors Cezarah "Sarah" Discaya and Pacifico "Curlee" Discaya and officials implicated in the flood control scandal to return the money they allegedly got from taxpayers.

This is in relation to their admission to the Witness Protection Program (WPP). Senator Rodante Marcoleta insisted that under the law, there's no need for restitution.

The senator said that while restitution normally goes through due process, he supports the proposal of Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Crispin Remulla and Malacañang for those involved to voluntarily surrender the stolen funds as a show of good faith.

“On this issue about returning the money, sinasabi ko, isantabi muna natin yung batas…baka pwedeng hindi, idiretso na lang nila isurrender, hindi na tayo dadaan sa korte (On this issue about returning the money, what I’m saying is let’s set aside the law for now… maybe they can just directly surrender it without going through the courts),” Tulfo explained.