ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Erwin Tulfo: Minority senators to raise questions on shooting incident, Bato's disappearance on Monday

Erwin Tulfo: Minority senators to raise questions on shooting incident, Bato's disappearance on Monday

Published May 17, 2026 04:04 pm

At A Glance

  • The Senate Minority Bloc will definitely raise questions regarding Wednesday's (May 13) shooting incident inside the premises and Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa's disappearance the following day, Sen. Erwin Tulfo said.
  • Sen. Erwin Tulfo also said he will ask aboutOmbudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla's claims that the Senate is refusing to accept the subpoena to release the close circuit television (CCTV) footage of the shooting.


The Senate Minority Bloc will definitely raise questions regarding Wednesday’s (May 13) shooting incident inside the premises and Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s disappearance the following day, Sen. Erwin Tulfo said on Sunday, May 17.

“I will definitely stand up. I will raise the issue on Monday. I will manifest para malaman natin ang puno’t dulo (so we would know the whole story). Was it staged or was the Senate under attack?” Tulfo said in an interview over Radio DZBB.

“What happened needs to be investigated. The Senate is an institution. Ang tagal na ng Senado tapos ganoon na lamang (The Senate has been standing for the longest time and that just happened). Whatever it is, kung may lumusob, nagpaputok sa loob (If there were attackers, fired shots inside), was it staged? E dapat hindi (that shouldn’t be),” he pointed out.

“Baka may precedent iyan next time so kailangan talaga may investigation para malinaw (There may be a precedent next time, so we truly need an investigation to clarify everything),” Tulfo added.

Tulfo pointed out that if the Senate was under attack, then it seems there was no respect for the institution; if it was staged, it means they wanted to make the Senate a playground.

“We need to respect the Senate, whether you are in the majority or minority,” he stressed.

Tulfo also said he will ask about Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla’s claims that the Senate is refusing to accept the subpoena to release the close circuit television (CCTV) footage of the shooting.

He will also raise questions on the suspension of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca. Remulla earlier ordered Aplasca suspended for six months.

“I’ll have to raise that question. Pag usapan ng minority sa umaga. Kung hindi man I’ll have to raise that question. Nakakahiya naman na may mga subpoena, meron tayong investigation na ongoing tapos ayaw natin makipag cooperate (The minority will discuss that in the morning. If not, I’ll have to raise that question. It’s embarrassing that we have a subpoena, there’s an ongoing investigation then we refuse to coordinate),” he lamented.

“It’s really a bad example as an institution hindi tayo sumasang ayon sa imbestigasyon sa Ombudsman. Kailangan nating sumunod (that we’re not agreeing to an investigation with the Ombudsman. We need to submit),” Tulfo said.

He also emphasized the necessity of turning over the CCTV footage of the shooting incident allowing the investigation to proceed.

“Parang (It seems) you’re hiding something if you stop the Ombudsman. I will definitely stand up and manifest that we have to follow rules. We are not above the law,” he added.

His brother, Sen. Raffy Tulfo also called for a transparent investigation, saying the Senate’s integrity and credibility should prevail over politics and personal interests.

Earlier, Sen. Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the shooting incident, saying it is imperative to determine the root cause of the shooting incident, whether protocols were violated, and if there was a miscommunication.

Related Tags

Senate Erwin Tulfo Office of the Ombudsman shooting incident Senate shooting Bato dela Rosa
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.