Teo denies committing graft, conflict of interest

FILE: “Considering that the DOT Secretary and the producer of “Kilos Pronto” are siblings, there is a possible conflict of interest which may be a violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” the commission added. (Photo: Department of Tourism – Philippines/Facebook)

After the Commission on Audit (COA) published a report on the Department of Tourism (DOT) citing the possibility of its resigned secretary committing graft and having a possible conflict of interest, the said ex-secretary said that her conscience is clear.

“My conscience is clear. I am confident that during my stint as Department Secretary, I did not commit or knowingly allowed any violation of the Anti-Graft Law, or any other law for that matter,” this was former Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo statement in response to COA’s 2017 audit report released on Wednesday, July 12.

COA’s identified deficiencies concerning a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between DOT and state-run network People’s Television Network (PTV) and pertinent disbursement vouchers.

“The MOA specifically includes the airing of a 6-minute segment buy plus a 3-minute or six (6) 30 seconds DOT spot in PTV’s Daily News-type magazine segment, ‘Kilos Pronto’,” COA wrote.

“Kilos Pronto” was created and developed by Bitag Media Unlimited Inc. – produced by Ben Tulfo.

“Considering that the DOT Secretary and the producer of “Kilos Pronto” are siblings, there is a possible conflict of interest which may be a violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” the commission added.

The mentioned law states that one of the cases that equal to corrupt practices and declared to be unlawful is, “Causing any undue injury to any party; including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence. This provision shall apply to officers and employees of offices or government corporations charged with the grant of licenses or permits or other concessions

This was not the first time for an issue in Teo’s stint in DOT involving PTV to erupt. Prior to her resignation, COA’s audit report on the government-owned network had the same findings which amounted to 60 million.

In addition to the DOT-PTV deal, COA questioned after its findings included junkets, sponsorships, shopping of luxury items, and other payments that reached more than 2 billion. These are all for its “Experience Philippines” campaign.

“In any event, I shall answer these allegations in the proper forum. God bless the Philippines,” Teo said.