President Rodrigo Duterte fired former tourism secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo in the end of the 25th Cabinet Meeting at the Malacañang Palace on May 7, 2018.
Philstar confirmed the news that the President already forced Teo to leave the Duterte cabinet after refusing to resign from her post despite of the controversial advertisement deal between Department of Tourism (DOT) and Bitag Media Unlimited Inc. (BMU) worth P60m.
BMU was owned by Wanda Teo’s sibling, journalist Ben Tulfo.
In the photo posted by Presidential Communications Office, Duterte was showed having a handshake with Teo before the cabinet meeting started.
But like the other public officials fired by Duterte, handshakes might be a sign that something bad might happen.
Several reports from Malacanang insiders said that Duterte was so angry with the controversy faced by the tourism secretary that he already ordered Teo to immediately resign.
Duterte was also reportedly scolded PTV-4 boss Martin Andanar for letting the deal happen.
Commission on Audit stated last week that PTV-4 made following payments last year to BMU: P22,089,560 on May 11; P18.96 million on Nov. 8; and P18.96 million on Dec. 15.
Attorney Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer of the former tourism secretary said that they would voluntarily return the P60-M pesos ad fee.
Roberto Teo, husband of Wanda also voluntarily resigned as board of director of Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
The President said repeatedly that he would not hesitate to fire any officials of the government that would show even a hint of corruption.
Meanwhile, the senate planned to conduct an investigation into the DOT-BMU deal.
Source: [1]
