Palace leaves DOT corruption allegations to Ombudsman, PACC

MANILA, Philippines —Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday said there is a proper venue for the allegations of corruption in Department of Tourism projects.

In a press briefing, Roque said that among the bodies that can handle the corruption allegations are the Office of the Ombudsman and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.

 “The mandate of the president is to fight corruption but the secretary of Tourism has no power to file a case. So there is the ombudsman, there is also the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission,” Roque said in Filipino, when asked if Tourism Secretary Bernadette Puyat will file a case against her predecessor Wanda Tulfo-Teo.

"So, if the ombudsman will not immediately take action, what we can do is to refer this to the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, PACC. So, don’t worry, I will let Commissioner Greco Belgico know about this," he added.

Roque was referring to the questioned DOT advertisement deal with state-run People’s Television Network and Teo’s brother Ben Tulfo’s media outfit, Bitag Multimedia Unlimited Inc.

The Commission on Audit released a report questioning PTNI’s payment of P60 million to BMUI to air DOT ads on its show “Kilos Pronto.”

Despite earlier insisting that the publicly available audit report was leaked because of politics, Teo eventually resigned from office. Her lawyer Ferdinand Topacio also claimed that the Tulfos would return the money paid to BMUI for airing DOT ads. The Tulfos have yet to do so.

The DOT was also accused of another irregularity involving the supposed $2-million hosting of the World’s Strongest Man which allegedly did not undergo public bidding.

Asked about the Tulfo brothers, who are still airing shows on PTV despite the questioned deal, Roque said they just trust their word of honor.

“Well, that's up to the Tulfos since they were the ones who said the money would be returned. So we’re counting on their word of honor that if they say they will return the money, they really will,” Roque said.

READ: Bitag to return P60M, Roberto Teo quits TIEZA amid DOT ads controversy

Roque said Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales already said her agency is investigating the contract between the Tulfos and PTV-4.