I was in great dismay following the Commission on Audit (COA) report published which states that the Department of Tourism (DOT), through its Secretary, Wanda Corazon T. Tulfo-Teo paid an amount of PHP60 million to her brother's TV program in the state-run television network People's Television Network, Inc. (PTNI) and produced under the Tulfo's media outfit Bitag Media Unlimited, Inc. (BMUI).
According to the COA report, there was no memorandum of agreement (MOA) or contract between PTNI and Ben Tulfo’s BMUI to air DOT commercial advertisements in BMUI’s “Kilos Pronto” show.
The show is a news-magazine type show that runs daily on PTV Channel 4 between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m hosted by Secretary Teo's brothers Ben and Erwin Tulfo together with broadcaster Alex Santos.
The said deal sparked allegations of "conflict of interest" between Secretary Wanda Teo and the BMUI which is owned by her brothers. Although Ben Tulfo already said that his production company is a content provider to all networks operating in the country, the payment has been controversial since it involves their sibling who heads the office and made such payment in behalf of her department.
The COA report also revealed that the MOA only on file at the commission was of between PTNI and DOT. It also pointed out that PTNI made the following payments by check to BMUI: PHP22,089,560 on May 11, 2017; PHP18.96 million on November 8, 2017; and PHP18.96 million on December 15, 2017 without setting terms and conditions to serve as basis for the computations on how the said three payments have arrived at.
With all of these surfacing out, the general public accused Secretary Teo of corruption and using her public office to convey a grave conflict of interest in favor of her relatives.
And with the pronouncement made by Teo's lawyer Atty. Ferdinand Topacio that BMUI will return the payment to the government is an "admission of guilt" because they vowed to return the said payment. If they really stand that they went all through the legal processes for the said transaction with PTNI, then why is there a need to give back the money?
So I will not be shocked to see Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Tulfo-Teo to tender her resignation to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea due to the scandals that she faced following the DOT-PTNI-BMUI deal.
I just hope that the new appointment of Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat as DOT Secretary, the office shall never be involved in this kind of skirt and instead focus to promote the Philippine tourism in a clean and honest way that they can.
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