Senator Nancy Binay. PHOTO FROM THE OFFICE OF SENATOR NANCY BINAY
Senator Nancy Binay has sought a Senate probe into the controversial P60-million advertisement deal between the Department of Tourism (DOT) and government-run People’s Television Network Inc. (PTNI).
This, despite Bitag Media Unlimited Inc.’s reported plan to return the money that the DOT, under Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo, reportedly paid to her brothers’ show, “Kilos Pronto,” on PTV-4.
“We welcome the gesture of good faith by Bitag to return the P60-million TV ad payment back to the government. Nonetheless, the DOT and PTV-4 need to clarify some issues with regard how commercials are placed, and the terms of reference covering such agreements,” Binay, chair of the Senate committee on tourism, said in a statement on Monday.
The senator said she has filed a resolution to look into how the tourism department spends its budget in advertising and marketing.
“Siguro kailangan natin alamin kung paano nila nira-rationalize ang local advertising placements and if they are congruent with the strategic marketing and media plans of the department,” she said.
A Commission on Audit (COA) report showed that PTV-4 paid Bitag a total of P60 million last year — P22,089,560 on May 11; P18.96 million on November 8; and P18.96 million on December 15.
READ: COAL Teo paid P60M for ads on brother Tulfos show
“Perhaps the DOT can shed light on the advertising deal the tourism department entered into with PTNI following COA’s findings,” Binay said, citing reports that the advertisement deal lacked a Memorandum of Agreement, Certificate of Performance, duly-approved budget utilization request, and billing statements.
“Due to limited budget and resources, kailangang maging responsable at maingat tayo sa panggastos ng bawat piso. Hindi po biro ang budget na binibigay natin para pagandahin ang imahe ng Pilipinas at maghikayat ng maraming turista.”
“We also need to know if there are measurable results to the local placements made by DOT and how these are different from the placements of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB),” she added.
The senator pointed out that aside from DOT’s P1 billion budget this year, the TPB has also its own allocation./ac