Malacañang counts on Tulfos’ promise to return P60M

FILE: He added that through Ombudsman Conchita Morales, the brothers’ contract with PTV-4 will be investigated. ( YANCY LIM/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

After Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat confirmed that the Tulfo brothers, Ben and Erwin have yet to return the P60 million that the department paid for the advertisements of their show, the Palace chose to count on their promise.

“Well, nasa Tulfos na ho iyan kasi sila naman iyong boluntaryong nagsabing isasauli nila. So we’re counting on their word of na kung ibabalik nila at sinabi nila eh talagang ibabalik nila (Well it is up to the Tulfos since they are the ones who volunteered to return the money. So we’re counting on their word when they said that they will return it, then they will return it),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr. in a press briefing on May 31, Thursday.

He added that through Ombudsman Conchita Morales, the brothers’ contract with PTV-4 will be investigated.

Earlier this May, former Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo’s legal counsel said that the brothers will return the money.

“Bagama’t wala po sa kaniya (Erwin Tulfo) ‘yung P60 million at nagastos na po, gagawa po sila ng paraan at i-o-offer nila na ibalik na po up to the last centavo kung anuman po ang naibayad sa kanila (Although Erwin Tulfo no longer has the money because it was already spent, they will find a way and offer to return down to the last centavo whatever amount was paid to them),” lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said in an interview with dzMM.

Ramon “Mon” Tulfo, the eldest of the Tulfo brothers in a column on May 10, called Topacio an “all talk” who does not care about his client.

“When Topacio said the Tulfo brothers, in a family meeting, had decided to return the P60 million, the guy was talking for himself. I was never consulted. Nor were Ben, Erwin, or Raffy. And why would I return the money that I never got in the first place? That’s what Erwin and Raffy are also asking,” he wrote.

The mentioned lawyer hit back on the eldest Tulfo, calling him “ulyanin (forgetful).”

Teo resigned from her Tourism chief post and her husband Roberto from his Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) position in the middle of the controversy.