Tag Archives: Department of Tourism

komentaryo

The right questions about #BuhayCarinderia: and some hope for DOT

New Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat had no choice but to hit the ground running, what with a Department of Tourism that’s suffered for two years under one Wanda Tulfo-Teo, who (and I repeat) already had a blind item against her as early as November 2016, only so many months into office. That blind item would be confirmed as true by the complaint of Concerned DOT Employees in June 2017, a complaint that was left ignored by the Office of the President and Bong Go’s Presidential Action Center.

Romulo-Puyat should also be looking at all those “shows” that have USec Kat de Castro traveling the country, talking about different sites, eating food, doing activities — it is so badly made, and it is unclear who it is talking to, that it is clearly a waste of public funds given just its lack of clear vision, audience, and goodness gracious, terrible production values. And please please, nip that proposal to build a Nickolodeon in El Nido, and to hold the Miss Universe pageant in the country AGAIN, when there has yet to even be an accounting of the money DOT spent for the last Miss U Pageant here.

Hoorays are in order though: Romulo-Puyat is looking into the travesty that is Cesar Montano, and thank heavens for that. This is a man after all who already had a corruption complaint filed against him — again with Go’s Presidential Action Center — in March 2017, which is also proof positive that Duterte’s “no to corruption” stance is only applicable to some people, but not to others (it took him two years to fire Wanda Teo after all).

But Romulo-Puyat shouldn’t just be looking at whether Buhay Carinderia is legal or not. She should be looking at whether the project is even well thought out, if it is necessary at all, and if in fact it will serve the karinderya owners, the communities that cradle them, and tourism — the kind that will bring in foreigners because of our food. This is not merely about whether it’s above board, it’s about whether or not the P80-million pesos the P320 million pesos could not be used for better, say, for real projects that push for the karenderya, bakery, street food, as reason enough for tourists to visit.  (more…)

komentaryo

Damage control, the Tulfos, and returning the P60M pesos

Will it matter at all that the Tulfos are returning the P60 million pesos that it received from the Department of Tourism’s (DOT’s) advertising fund placed with PTV4?

The answer is no. Because while that’s P60M in taxpayers’ money that changed hands from DOT to PTV4 to the Tulfos’ production outfit Bitag Media, and of course we want it returned, there is little here that tells us it won’t happen again. Neither is there any indication that more of it isn’t happening. See, there are just too many other questions about this triumvirate of two government agencies and one private company, bound together by the Tulfo name. There are too many questions that demand answers.  (more…)

komentaryo

#WandaTeo, the Tulfos, conflict-of-interest: What innocence?

On May 7, the Tulfos and Department of Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo announced through Teo’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio that the Tulfo brothers’ Bitag Media is returning the P60 million pesos they received as payment for DOT ad placements on the show Kilos Pronto — a Tulfo show that is blocktimer on PTV4.

This, after Teo insisted that there was no conflict-of-interest since the DOT’s deal was with PTV4, not Bitag Media. This, after the Tulfo brothers went ballistic online, calling out other media personalities who put into question their sister, and the brothers themselves — because this is basic: if YOU are blocktiming with a network, that network is NOT supposed to give you ads. In fact Bitag Media has to find its own ads in order to pay for whatever blocktiming amount they are paying the network. This set-up, no matter how they spin it? Is highly irregular.

Topacio yesterday “insisted that Teo and her brothers are innocent,” and here I’m going to tell you how that is impossible.  (more…)

komentaryo

Wanda Teo and the tale of the traveling “little people” OR, a whiff of corruption (Part 2)

It was in June 2017 when I started receiving information from Department of Tourism employees about Duterte appointee Wanda Tulfo Teo. It was seven months after the blind item about a government official who had asked for free shoes, shopping GCs, and 150 tickets to watch a theater production at a mall — which she denied. It was soon after this column was written, speaking about Teo’s incompetence and cluelessness about the environment and sustainability, given her ‘excitement’ over Nicolodeon building a development project in Coron Palawan.

At this point, Teo was a year into office and DOT employees had already given her enough time to prove herself as a competent, trustworthy government official. Alas, what was revealed in the seven-page letter to the Office of the President’s Presidential Complaint Center (stamped received June 9 2017), was a Teo leadership controlled by her Chief Of Staff Arlene Mancao who was defined as a “tyrant” by the employees. It also spoke about how Teo runs the DOT. (more…)

komentaryo

Wanda Teo and a pair of designer shoes OR, a whiff of corruption (Part 1)

There is little by way of credibility that explains why Wanda Tulfo Teo is still Department of Tourism Secretary. Especially given a President who keeps repeating over and over: Just a whiff of corruption and you’re out.

With Teo, it’s not just a whiff. But a stench. It’s not even just a stench, but proper documentation about, and witnesses to, the manner in which she handles her position and operates her office. And it doesn’t take a genius to see how incompetent she is, unable to talk about a vision for tourism that is not just about motherhood statements and beauty pageant answers — and we’re talking “world peace” level answers, not even Gloria Diaz responding with “Why, do you eat with your feet?” when a judge asked about Filipinos eating with our hands, IN 1969.

Let’s not even get into what she says though, because what she does, the allegations that have been raised against her, are enough to get any public official fired. This is not one instance, but multiple instances; it’s not just one story but multiple stories. As sacred cows go, she’s the most sacred of them all.  (more…)