‘PTV needs to explain’

In “This time, Tulfos are taken to task by senators” (News, 8/15/18), it was reported: “All told, Bitag Media was supposed to get P89.88 million or 75 percent of the contract price, with the rest going to PTV, according to the Commission on Audit.”

The contract price that the Department of Tourism under former secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo paid the People’s Television Network was for TV advertisements to promote tourism. Why the bulk of that amount was concentrated on the time blocked by the media outfit owned by her brother, Ben Tulfo, was something that PTV, not Tulfo or Teo, has to explain.

Apparently, the jaded bureaucrats running the government-owned PTV might have simply assumed that was Teo’s corrupt intention. Has anyone ever wondered why PTV, despite government resources backing its existence and operations, has never been seriously in the game for ratings? It’s simply because it is left in the hands of incompetent political appointees who couldn’t care less if the network went belly-up, as it had many times in the past for being the most boring to watch.

Tulfo said it correctly, even if disingenuously: The DOT’s contract was with PTV, not with his media outfit. The ball was in the hands of PTV, and when it passed the ball on to Tulfo more times than it should, it was its own judgment call. Business-wise, who would pass up an opportunity like that? No actionable evidence whatsoever exists showing or suggesting that Tulfo or Teo had strong-armed PTV into doing what it did. PTV is on its own to defend that questionable judgment.

Nonetheless, it was argued that, granting no law was literally violated by Tulfo, it was still wrong—ethically or morally. He should have said no to Teo’s bone thrown his way by PTV. But since when has delicadeza been the basis for any criminal prosecution in this country? If that were so, 11 out of 10 public officials pretending to be “public servants” should already be in jail!

GEORGE DEL MAR, [email protected]