Malacañang said it was counting on the promise of the Tulfo brothers who earlier said that they would return the P60 million paid by the Department of Tourism for the botched television advertising contract.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque is confident that both Ben and Erwin Tulfo would return the money since they were the ones that voluntarily declared to give back the money to the DoT.
The controversial P60-million advertisement placed by the government television network on Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo’s brothers led her to resign from her post as DoT chief.
“We are counting on their word of honor that if they said that, they will really return it,” Roque said in a news briefing at the Palace.
The Palace spokesperson said Ombudsman Conchita Morales has already ordered an investigation on the controversial advertising contract between PTV4 and DoT.
Roque said it’s now up to the Ombudsman to decide the fate of the Tulfo brothers and resigned DoT secretary Teo.
The Commission on Audit had reported that the People’s Television Network Inc. has no memorandum of agreement or contract between the state-run media network and Bitag Media Unlimited Inc. of Tulfo, which produces the “Kilos Pronto” program, to air DoT advertisements.