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Former Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo isn’t alone in returning the P114 million disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA) in connection with the advertisement deal sealed by the Department of Tourism and People’s Television Network Inc. (PTNI).
Politiko has learned that the COA sent notices of disallowance to 13 people, including Teo, over the controversial deal last June.
The COA ordered the recipients of the notices of disallowance to return P114 million of the total P120-million advertisement contract with PTNI, which it disallowed for conflict of interest.
The DOT under Teo entered into an agreement with PTNI to show commercials on “Kilos Pronto,” a show produced and hosted by her brother, Ben Tulfo.
Among the individuals whom the COA ordered to return the money were Teo’s appointees, Tourism Undersecretary Katherine De Castro and Assistant Secretary Arlene Mancao.
The COA found De Castro liable for the transaction since she was head of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) which recommended the alternative method of agency-to-agency procurement for the commercials instead of conducting public bidding.
Mancao, meanwhile, certified that the money allotted for the deal was “necessary, lawful and incurred under direct supervision.”
As Teo’s alter ego— she was the former Tourism Secretary’s executive assistant— Mancao also certified that the supporting documents for the drak were valid, proper and legal.
She also certified that PTNI “has satisfactorily rendered their services and complied with all their obligations and undertakings to the DOT,” COA said.
Mancao also vouched for the official nature of the expenses related to the deal and said they were in the DOT’s best interest.
Teo was liable for the deal since she signed the Memorandum of Agreement with PTNI and approved the BAC’s resolution recommendingthe alternative method of agency-to-agency procurement for the commercials.
PTNI General Manager and President Dino Apolonio was likewise issued a notice of disallowance because he was a signatory in the MOA with DOT, in the proposal of the network with DOT, and in the certification about PTNI’s compliance with the conditions of agency-to-agency procurement.
Apolonio likewise received the payment from DOT for airing its commercials on Tulfo’s show.
The COA has ordered the recipients of the notices of disallowance to return the money within six months from June.
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