Do we need three Tulfos in the Senate?

If trends peddled by paid polls are to be taken hook, line, and sinker, after the May 12 national and local elections, this country will establish a world record, a Senate with three sitting brothers: Raffy, Erwin, and Ben Tulfo.

The spectacle of the Tulfos, like “The Brothers Karamazov”, a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1879, is a contemporary reflection of a broken nation, a people who have lost their soul and faith in established institutions, and believe that the three Tulfo brothers are their knights in shining armor. The Tulfo's ideology professes that for the longest time, trapos have mangled our socio-economic and political milieu.

The brothers Karamazov were Dmitri, the eldest son and the only child of his father with his first wife, Ivan, the middle son and the most brilliant, and the youngest and the best of the three, and Alexei, considered the novel’s hero. The Tulfos have different characters but one unifying trait, they believe the Philippine justice system is rotten and the government corrupt. The people need "Kakampi ng Mga Inaapi".

We wrote earlier that the Tulfo cult in Philippine politics started in the early ‘80's when Ramon started the trend on investigative journalism. As a hard-hitting columnist of The Inquirer, he gained a wide following because there were no sacred cows to him. Unafraid of libel charges, well, he used to eat libel for breakfast, he exposed police generals, judges, Cabinet members, and ambassadors. He had military connections as his father was a retired military officer. Raffy, Erwin, and Ben followed his path.

Raffy, born March 12, 1960, is the most successful. Aside from being senator, his wife, Jocelyn Pua is a partylist member, sitting together with his own son Ralph, born 1996. Raffy is practicing what he used to denounce, which is being a family dynasty. The Tulfos are joining the Villars, Cayetanos, Estrada/Ejercitos who used to hate dynasties but now practice them. We might as well rename the Senate as the Chamber of Dynasties.

Erwin, born October 6, 1963, is an incumbent partylist member. He suddenly became a member of Congress by replacing the original representative and nominee when he lost his DSWD Cabinet post, having been bypassed by the Commission on Appointments due to citizenship issues. Erwin has been topping the surveys and is being solidly supported by Raffy. He copies the Tulfo style of berating, scolding, and insulting officials based on complaints by people.

Ben, born on March 15, 1955, is the eldest of the three, but isn’t being visibly supported by Raffy. On May 8, 2018, their sister Wanda Tulfo Teo resigned as Tourism secretary under the Duterte administration due an alleged ?60-million tourism ad, which was reportedly contracted to “Kilos Pronto”, a program hosted by Ben and Erwin. In August 2018, the brothers allegedly declared in a Senate hearing that they will not return the money they supposedly earned from that transaction.

Filipinos are very forgiving. Polls and surveys indicate that the Tulfos are forgiven and even to be rewarded. Erwin and Ben are going to join Raffy in the twentieth Senate. The sons of Ramon, a Philippine Constabulary officer, and Caridad Teshiba, a Japanese mestiza, have gone a long way. They have turned around the culture of a corrupt bureaucracy as a platform to present themselves as saviors of a beleaguered people and healers of a wounded nation.

This is a country whose oppressed people love and worship the likels of Robinhoods, of FPJs and Coco Martin's Ricardo Dalisay, people who adore Tanggol of Batang Quiapo or Nardong Putik of Ramon Revilla Sr., Leon Guerrero of Lito Lapid, and Asiong Salonga, and the many similar characters played by Erap.

Three Tulfos in the Senate is evidence our institutions are weak, inept, corrupt, and ineffective. The Tulfo popularity rise is both consequence and root cause of this emerging phenomenon. Gone are the days of Senators Claro M. Recto, Jose W. Diokno, Salonga, Tolentino, and Manglapus.

This is the era of Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla, and Robinhood Padilla. People don’t need legal luminaries but jesters, entertainers, and purveyors of dreams. They don’t need brilliance in the Senate anymore but the audacity and even braggadocio of Karamazovs.

I am really deeply sad with the fate that has befallen our nation and people. It’s high time we refuse to swallow dynasties and concentration of political powers. Let’s turn the tide and reject all these people who don’t believe in equal representation and inclusivity.