BREAKING: DA usec named as new Tourism chief

May 8, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat as the new Tourism secretary.

Special Assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go said Puyat will replace Wanda Teo who quit as Department of Tourism chief amid the P60-million questionable deal involving her office and a television program of her siblings in state-run People's Television Network 4.

Teo tendered her resignation and Duterte accepted it following a one-on-one meeting with her after the Cabinet meeting on Monday night.

The Commission on Audit has questioned DOT for paying P60-million worth of advertisements on Ben Tulfo's Bitag Media Unlimited Inc. to air the department's ads in BMUI's "Kilos Pronto."

Tulfo is Teo's brother. Tulfo and another sibling, Erwin Tulfo, are co-hosting Kilos Pronto.

COA said there was no memorandum of agreement or contract regarding the ad placement. Celerina Monte/DMS