DOT Sec. Teo denies hand in PTV-4 deal with brother’s media outfit

MANILA, Philippines—Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo on Sunday denied involvement in the placement of Department of Tourism’s advertisement on her brother’s television show, a deal the Commission on Audit (COA) questioned for lack of documentation.

COA on Friday published a report on its website, stating that there was no contract or memorandum of agreement (MOA) between government-run People’s Television Network Inc. (PTNI) and Bitag Media Unlimited Inc. (BMUI), owned by Teo’s brother, Ben Tulfo, for the airing of over P60 million worth of DOT advertisements in BMUI-produced “Kilos Pronto,” a show that airs daily on PTV-4 and co-hosted by another Tulfo, Erwin.

“The contract is between DOT and PTV-4. Beyond that, hindi ko na alam kung ibinigay nila sa outfit ng brother ko (I no longer know if they gave it to the [media] outfit of my brother). Ask PTV-4,” Teo said in an interview on DZMM Teleradyo.

“Sila na ang namili kung anong program ilalagay ang ads; sila na ang namili kung sino bibigyan (They [PTV-4] chose on what program the ads would be put; they chose on who to give [the deal]),” she added.

Furthermore, Teo stressed that PTV-4 “should be held accountable” because she did not order the news agency to award deals to anyone.

A day before Teo aired her side of the matter; PTNI had released a statement in response to news reports on COA’s audit of the agency.

“PTNI wishes to clarify that the said payments are supported by complete documents as required by COA Circular No. 2012-001 namely: (1) Contract between PTNI and BMUI; (2) Certificate of Performance; (3) duly approved Budget Utilization Request (BUR); and (4) Billing Statement detailing the deliverables,” PNTI said.

It added that the agency had clarified the issue to COA during the recently held Exit Conference between the two.

“Such reports attempt to undermine PTV’s integrity, when in truth, the Network, since the beginning of this administration, has been regularly operating and performing its mandate as the flagship television network of the Republic of the Philippines in delivering unbiased and quality information to the Filipino people,” PNTI concluded.

COA in its audit report said that PTNI paid BMUI by check of 22,089,560 on May 11, 2017, P18.96 million on November 8, 2017, and P18.96 million on December 15, 2017, totaling to over P60 million.

The COA report stated that the only MOA available was between PTNI and DOT, and a MOA between PTNI and BMUI was non-existent.

The MOA between PTNI and DOT obliged PTV-4 to air a six-minute DOT advertisement segment and a three-minute DOT spot on “Kilos Pronto.”

Although a MOA between PTNI and DOT is on file, “there were no provisions for the airtime rates per segment/spot and such other terms and conditions of the commercial advertisement specifically as regards the manner of payment,” which leaves COA with “no basis for the computations on how the said three payments were arrived at.”

“Due to the absence of the documents mentioned and the deficiencies noted, the accuracy, legality and validity of the payments made to blocktimer BMUI in the amount of P60,009,560.00 could not be ascertained,” COA said.