Rappler responds to Erwin Tulfo: ‘Stick to the real issues’

Erwin Tulfo’s recent antics are typical of him – dragging others down when he’s in trouble.

He should be answering a Commission on Audit report flagging P60-million worth of TV ads that the Department of Tourism (DOT), headed by his sister, placed on the government channel’s Kilos Pronto, which he hosts along with his two brothers.

Instead, Erwin Tulfo is going after Rappler for the media company’s valid and legal advertising contract with the DOT in 2015.

Commercial transactions between government agencies and media companies are not unique. The current DOT secretary herself says her agency also spent tens of millions of pesos for ads with ABS-CBN, GMA, CNN Philippines, CNN International, Discovery Channel, and the BBC.

We ask Tulfo to stick to the real issues:

• That his sister, DOT Secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo, disbursed checks worth P60 million of taxpayers’ money that benefited the siblings’ media outfit. This smacks not only of conflict of interest but of a possible violation of the code for civil servants on the part of Teo.
• That the state auditor is asking Teo to explain the absence of proper documents for these transactions, a process that any public official should know very well.
• That the Tulfos seem to have used their relationship with their sister, a public official, to earn money for themselves.

– Rappler.com