3 Tulfos suspended; Mon takes over

In a quirky twist of fate, radio host and Inquirer columnist Ramon Tulfo will take over Erwin, Raffy and Ben Tulfo as hosts of their daily television program after TV5 suspended his younger brothers Wednesday.

The TV network suspended Tulfo’s brothers for threatening actor Raymart Santiago and his actress wife Claudine Barretto on their program “T3: Kapatid, Sagot Kita.”

Ramon figured in a brawl with the show biz couple and their companions at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last Sunday.

In a phone interview, TV5 corporate PR Peachy Vibal-Guioguio said the “Tulfo brothers have been suspended as of 5 p.m., Wednesday.”

Probable cause

She said executives of News5, TV5’s news and public affairs program, would meet this afternoon with the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

MTRCB has found probable cause to charge the three Tulfo brothers and TV5 with violating a law for airing indecent scenes and utterances that encouraged the commission of violence or crime.

The board scheduled the case for hearing this morning.

In an episode of “T3: Kapatid, Sagot Kita” on Monday night,  Erwin, Raffy and Ben said they would exact revenge on Santiago and Barretto for ganging up on their eldest brother. Ramon suffered contusions and a black eye.

Raffy told Santiago: “Kung ’yung kuya ko, one on one kayo, baka ’yung pwit mo nasa bunganga mo na. (Had you fought one on one with my elder brother, you might have ended up with your butt in your mouth.)”

“Kung gusto mo malaking warehouse, sarado, mag-aantay ang mga ambulansya … last man standing. Titignan ko ang galing mo (If you want, you can fight him in a closed warehouse where ambulances would be waiting until only one is left standing. Let’s see how good you are.)” Ben said.

Erwin ended the on-air rants with the statement, “Antabayan mo lang ang lintik na ganti ng Tulfo (Just wait for the revenge of Tulfo).”

Asked how long the suspension would be, Guioguio said News5 did not provide further details.

Unscripted

In an earlier statement, News5 said the statements made by the Tulfo brothers “were unscripted, spontaneous  and do not in any way reflect the stand nor the policy of the network, its management, staff and employees.”

“News5 does not and will never condone such behavior. It was not only uncalled for but runs counter to the established code of ethics that we all strictly adhere to,” it said.

Adjudication

Guioguio said Martin Andanar and lawyer Mel Sta. Maria would join Ramon Tulfo on “T3” as temporary hosts.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares, MTRCB chair, said today’s meeting between board representatives and TV5 was an adjudication committee hearing.

She said the board’s legal counsel had “found probable cause” against the hosts of “T3.”

“There were instances of violations and near-violations of Presidential Decree No. 1986 committed in the program,”  Llamanzares said.