Teo resigns as Tourism secretary

Resigned Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo. INQUIRER.NET/CATHY MIRANDA

Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo resigned Monday afternoon, her lawyer said Tuesday.

“Yesterday, before the start of the latest Cabinet meeting in Malacañang Palace, Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo tendered her resignation from the Department of Tourism (DOT),” her lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said in a statement.

“Her letter was personally handed by her to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea in the afternoon. Later in the evening, after the Cabinet meeting was when she saw the President to talk to him in private,” Topacio added.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed Teo’s resignation.

“There was a resignation letter [of Teo] that was submitted to the OES (Office of the Executive Secretary) before the meeting with the President last night,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.

But Roque said there was no confirmation yet if President Rodrigo Duterte accepted the resignation.

Topacio said Teo’s “decision to leave her position was made after a long and deliberate reflection and soul-searching with respect to the events that have transpired the past few weeks.”

Teo’s resignation came amid the controversy of P60-million in DOT advertising money being placed on the program of her brothers on government-owned People’s Television Network Inc. (PTNI).

She was accused of conflict of interest and urged to resign out of delicadeza.

She had insisted that there was no conflict of interest saying the DOT’s contract was with PTNI and that it was the television network that placed the ads on her brothers’ “Kilos Pronto” program.

“We wish to clarify that there was NO demand made on the part of the President for Secretary Teo to resign and that the decision to do so was purely of her own volition,” Topacio said.

The lawyer said his client maintained that she had done nothing wrong and that all the dealings of the DOT “went through all legal processes, were above-board and done in good faith, and with total absence of malice.”

“Secretary Teo also says that she is honored and privileged to have served as Secretary of Tourism under the Duterte Administration, where she has done her level best to discharge her duty to promote tourism both domestically and internationally,” Topacio said.

“Secretary Teo wishes to express her gratitude to all those who have stood by her in her trying times – her immediate family and her official DOT Family.”

“She wishes her successor well and commits to continue helping President Duterte in his advocacy for positive change even in her capacity as a private citizen,” he added.

Topacio said Teo would continue to help President Rodrigo Duterte’s advocacy for “positive change” even in her capacity as a private citizen. with Maila Ager /cbb