Puyat asks DOT appointees to resign

Following her oath-taking ceremony at the Malacañang palace yesterday, newly-appointed Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat on Tuesday, May 15, said she asked all undersecretaries and assistant secretaries of the Department of Tourism (DOT) to vacate their posts. (TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

Following her oath-taking ceremony at the Malacañang palace yesterday, newly-appointed Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat on Tuesday, May 15, said she asked all undersecretaries and assistant secretaries of the Department of Tourism (DOT) to vacate their posts.

“All incumbent undersecretaries and assistant secretaries of this Department are hereby directed to tender their unqualified courtesy resignation to the President, through the undersigned, starting on May 15, 2018 to May 2018,” the order read.

There are at least 10 assistant secretaries and undersecretaries in the Tourism department. Career officials are exempted from the order.

Puyat said this move will give her “a free hand” to perform the mandate given to her by President Rodrigo Duterte.

However, until any action is taken by the President on the courtesy resignation, all undersecretaries and assistant secretaries should report for work and perform their usual duties and responsibilities.

Puyat, in an interview with ANC’s Headstart, said that the President himself told her that she has a free hand in choosing who she wants to appoint as DOT officials.

Asked if she will remove incumbent officials to give way to her new appointees, the Tourism chief said, “Maybe I don’t need to ask, maybe they’ll do it in their own.”

She added that she has been submitting her courtesy resignation every time there is a new administration, stressing that the current secretary should “trust people around her.”

Duterte appointed Puyat in the DOT after former Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo resigned. Her resignation came amid the controversy of P60 million paid by the DOT for ad placements on the “Kilos Pronto” program co-hosted by Teo’s brothers, Ben and Erwin Tulfo, on the state-run People’s Television Network Inc. (PTNI).

Puyat, who has been serving the government for 12 years, was asked by the President to ensure that there is no corruption in the DOT. The Tourism secretary added that Duterte is confident that she will continue the legacy of her father, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, who has never been involved in corruption.