MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte appointed broadcaster and newspaper columnist Ramon Tulfo and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza as special envoys.
Tulfo was made a Philippine special envoy to China for six months while Dureza shall be the country’s special envoy to the European Union until Dec. 31.
Duterte signed their appointment papers Tuesday before they were made available to Malacañang reporters Thursday.
Ramon Tulfo – brother of controversial Tulfo brothers Ben and Edwin and former Tourism secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo – was earlier urged by Duterte to run for senator in the 2019 midterm elections.
But Tulfo rejected the offer despite faring well in pre-election surveys and instead proposed to the President to appoint him as special envoy to China.
“As special envoy to China, which pays only P1 per year, I could retain my public service program – Isumbong mo kay Tulfo – on dzRP, my bread and butter. Helping people is my passion,” Tulfo said.
Tulfo said he plans to bring in Chinese investors in agriculture and fisheries as he learned that China is interested in contract farming or leasing idle agricultural lands and fishponds.
“This will mean millions of jobs for our rural folk and the transfer of agricultural and aquatic technology,” he said. “I could facilitate applications and issuance of permits to Chinese investors.”
Moreover, Duterte also appointed former PTV-4 news operations head Raquel Tobias as undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office./PN
