Amid heated discussions around the Senate Blue Ribbon panel’s partial committee report on Tuesday, May 5, an unexpected offer of praise was made by Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III to Senator Erwin Tulfo for his grasp of parliamentary procedure.

This was after Tulfo stated that he signed the partial committee report with amendments, citing what he described as gaps in the findings.

"You have just shown your knowledge of parliamentary work. That's what I learned in 1992," Sotto said, noting that this is what he picked up from being a senator in the 9th Congress.

He recalled it was the late former Senate President Neptali Gonzales who taught him this.

"Ayaw mo yung laman ng report, pero member ka eh? Pirmahan mo edi sabihin mo 'I dissent' pero pumirma ka (You don’t like what’s in the report, but you’re a member, right? Then sign it and say, ‘I dissent.’ But you still sign it)," Sotto said.

"Because that is part of your parliamentary work. That's why I congratulate you, Senator Erwin Tulfo. You have knowledge of your parliamentary work," he added.

Tulfo clarified that his signature should not be taken as a full endorsement of the report’s conclusions, stressing that the document remains incomplete.

“I affixed my signature not as an endorsement of every conclusion contained therein, but as a recognition that the report is, at best, incomplete. It reflects portions of the truth—but not its full measure,” he said.

Tulfo said he supports accountability and the pursuit of justice, but raised concerns over what he viewed as a limited scope of the report’s recommendations, particularly its focus on only a few senators for further investigation.

“But I cannot, in good conscience, agree with a recommendation that narrows the scope of further investigation to only a handful of our colleagues in this Chamber,” he added.

The senator underscored the scale of the issue, describing the alleged misuse of public funds for flood control projects as potentially one of the most significant cases in recent history.

He stressed the need for a fair and thorough process, saying the public expects the Senate to pursue justice without bias.