By Denise A. Valdez
TOURISM SECRETARY Wanda T. Teo has resigned Monday, her lawyer confirmed Tuesday.
Lawyer Ferdinand S. Topacio said Ms. Teo personally submitted her letter of resignation to Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea before the start of the Cabinet meeting. He added that Ms. Teo privately met with President Rodrigo R. Duterte later in the evening, and emphasized that Ms. Teo resigned of her own volition.
Malacañang confirmed on Tuesday that Mr. Duterte has accepted Ms. Teo’s resignation.
“Her decision to leave her position was made after a long and deliberate reflection and soul-searching with respect to the events that have transpired the past few weeks,” Mr. Topacio said in a press conference Tuesday.
He added that Ms. Teo was not at first inclined to resign, but said there were probably other factors that eventually led her to do so.
“The enemies of the President were seizing upon this issue to do harm to the Presidency. That’s something she could not accept,” Mr. Topacio said.
“We are not admitting guilt. It was more of delicadeza to protect the family name and to show the people the Tulfos do not wish to benefit from government funds.”
Ms. Teo and her brothers had been caught in a controversy over a P60-million advertising deal between her department, the media company of Bienvenido “Ben” T. Tulfo, and broadcaster Erwin T. Tulfo’s program on government network PTV-4.
Mr. Topacio also said that Ms. Teo did not know that Mr. Tulfo’s show, Kilos Pronto, is hosted by her brothers. “She did not know. She was only informed later on. Do you think if she knew, she would not have vetoed it?” he said.
He said there is nothing illegal with the advertising deal, it just “did not look good.”
The lawyer added: “There is no allegation on the part of the CoA (Commission on Audit) that there was something illegal or improper with the disbursement of funds by PTV4 to Bitag. Ang sinasabi ng CoA, ‘O nag-disburse pala kayo ng ganitong amount. Amin na yung resibo para ma-liquidate.’” (What CoA is saying is give us the receipts since you disbursed this amount, so we could liquidate the disbursement.)
As for possible liability on Ms. Teo’s part, Mr. Roque said this will now be up to the Office of the Ombudsman. — with Arjay L. Balinbin

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