MANILA – Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said he will file a plunder complaint against the Tulfo brothers in connection with the Department of Tourism’s P60-million advertisement deal with state-run PTV-4 and Bitag Media Unlimited, Inc.
Broadcast journalist Ben Tulfo had said the media firm he founded will not return the P60 million it was paid for the airing of Tourism department advertisements.
In May the Commission on Audit flagged the ad placement, saying the transaction between PTV-4 and Bitag Media was not supported with proper documents.
Wanda Teo, who resigned as Tourism secretary amid the controversy, may be held liable for conflict of interest over the transaction, state auditors said.
Teo is a sister of Ben and Erwin Tulfo, who host Bitag Media’s “Kilos Pronto” where the Tourism department ads were placed.
“I intend to file a plunder case against the Tulfo siblings in relation to the P60-million DOT ad controversy,” Trillanes said in a statement released on Monday.
“I also call on the Senate blue ribbon committee to act on my resolution calling for an inquiry into the matter so we could determine the magnitude of corruption, specifically, how much more of the people’s money was squandered by the previous DOT leadership,” he added.
The Tulfo brothers – through Teo’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio – earlier said they would return the P60 million the Tourism department paid the media firm.
“After a family council, they have decided to return the P60 million na binayad ng People’s Television Network, Inc. sa Bitag Media Unlimited, Inc. for the ad placements ng DOT,” Topacio had said./PN
