Teo faces Ombudsman probe over P60-M ad controversy

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales speaks to reporters for the first time since November, as she attended the Joint Forum on Justice and Integrity by the Office of the Ombudsman and the International Development Law Organization. PHOTO/Vince F. Nonato, PDI

The Office of the Ombudsman will investigate just-resigned Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo over her agency’s controversial deal with the People’s Television to air its advertisements on a program produced by her brother Ben Tulfo.

“Yes, yes we’ve already done that,” Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said on Tuesday, speaking to reporters for the first time in six months.

“We will do a fact-finding [investigation],” Morales explained.

The investigation would be motu propio, or initiated by the Ombudsman on its own impulse without the need to wait for a complaint to be filed.

The fact-finding investigation is the stage where field investigators gather evidence to build up a formal complaint.

Afterwards, the case could undergo preliminary investigation, in which the respondents would be informed of formal allegations and given the chance to air their side. The last step is for the Ombudsman to determine the existence of probable cause to order the filing of criminal charges before the courts.

Morales appeared in public for the first time since November at the Joint Forum on Justice and Integrity held by the Ombudsman and the International Development Law Organization on Tuesday.

She had lain low after President Duterte publicly berated her for investigating the allegations of hidden wealth against him.

Tulfo-Teo found herself in hot water after a Commission on Audit report revealed the DOT “specifically required” the government network to air its advertisements in the afternoon program “Kilos Pronto.”

Opposition lawmakers called on Tulfo-Teo to resign because of an apparent conflict of interest, as the public affairs show was produced by her brother Ben’s media outfit Bitag Media Unlimited, Inc., and cohosted by another brother Erwin.

Tulfo-Teo’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio announced on Tuesday noon that she had resigned.