SENATOR Nancy Binay on Monday, May 7, said an investigation on the P60-million ad placements of the Department of Tourism (DOT) must push through even with the return of the amount by the Tulfo brothers' production company.
“We welcome the gesture of good faith by Bitag to return the P60 million TV ad payment back to the government. Nonetheless, the DOT and PTV-4 need to clarify some issues with regard to how commercials are placed and the terms of reference covering such agreement,” Binay, who chairs the Senate committee on tourism, said.
At the House of Representatives, progressive lawmakers said the return of the amount is an "admission of guilt" on the part of the Tulfo siblings. They pushed for the resignation of Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo.
Earlier Monday, Tulfo-Teo said her brother Erwin Tulfo will return the P60 million while her husband, Roberto Teo, will resign as board member of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), the infrastructure arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
The Commission on Audit has found the P60-million deal between the DOT and state-run PTV-4 anomalous as it lacked the proper documents. The ad placement also went to the show "Kilos Pronto" of the Tulfo brothers under their production company Bitag Multimedia.
State auditors said the state-run television network made the following payments last year to Bitag Multimedia: P22.09 million on May 11; P18.96 million on November 8; and P18.96
on December 15.
Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao and ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said the return of the ad placement fees and the resignation of the Tourism chief's husband from Tieza are "an admission of conflict of interest."
In his statement, Casilao reiterated his call for the Tourism chief to resign "in the spirit of delicadeza."
Casilao stressed that if the issue was not exposed by COA, "Teo's familiy members will still be enjoying from government contracts, and perks of being a government official."
Tinio, for his part, said the return of the amount will erase the "accountability of Secretary Teo for the imporper transaction."
"She should still resign," he said.
Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said the best option is for Teo to resign "so she won't force the hand of President Duterte to axe her."
Teo earlier denied that there was conflict of interest in the deal. She said she did not know that the ads would be placed in his brother's show and that the deal was between state-run PTV-4 and DOT, not his brother's media outfit. (With PS Jun Sarmiento/SunStar Philippines)