MANILA, Philippines — A slew of senators on Wednesday welcomed the appointment of a Department of Agriculture undersecretary as the new Department of Tourism chief and expressed their confidence that she would easily secure the approval of the powerful Commission on Appointments.
The support from senators for President Rodrigo Duterte’s designation of Bernadette Romulo-Puyat as the new Tourism Secretary came from both sides of the aisle as both majority and minority lawmakers rejoiced over her appointment, which marked the end of the scandal-rocked tenure of Wanda Tulfo-Teo at the DOT.
Sen. Nancy Binay, the chairperson of the Senate panel on tourism, said that she was looking forward to working with Puyat and seeing her bring her expertise in farm tourism and ecotourism to the government’s rural development programs.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, meanwhile, stressed Puyat’s performance in different government posts, her clean record and academic credentials.
“I look forward to working with her in developing our tourism industry. Good tourism policies will increase jobs and income for our people and will further sustain our growing economy,” Recto said in a statement released on Wednesday.
Upon becoming the country’s tourism chief, Puyat will be leaving her position as Agriculture undersecretary for administration, agribusiness and marketing.
Her new job will not be easy though as she will be grappling with several issues hounding the Philippine tourism industry such as the recent closure of the popular tourist island of Boracay and a department shaken by a multimillion scandal involving Teo’s brothers on state-run People’s Television Network.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said that Puyat was the right choice for the position as she had already gone to different places in the country and seen their potential.
“I am sure that she is the right choice for the president. She has done a lot. I think she will pass the CA with flying colors given her clean track record,” Gatchalian said in an interview with reporters.
Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV of the minority also praised Puyat and said that she was the right person for the job.
“A healthy tourism industry can also make a major contribution to job creation and livelihood of Filipinos, which is increasingly important now that prices of goods are on the rise and 9 of 10 Filipinos are feeling the weight of TRAIN (tax reform law),” he said in a statement.
The past days have been tumultuous for the DOT after the Commission on Audit flagged a P60-million advertisement placement the office signed on the show of Teo’s brothers Erwin Tulfo and Ben Tulfo and broadcaster Alex Santos through People’s Television Network Inc.
The government’s audit office said that the transaction did not have the necessary documents especially the paper that authorized the state-run broadcaster to receive money from the DOT and remit the amount to Ben Tulfo’s Bitag Media Unlimited Inc. which produced the show.
This week, during Monday’s Cabinet meeting, it was reported that Duterte asked Teo to hand in her resignation letter, an account initially disputed by her lawyer and spokesperson, Ferdinand Topacio.
By morning of Tuesday, Topacio, facing the media, made a 180-degree turn and said that his client was stepping down.
Duterte, speaking at the presidential palace, said that he had removed another official due to corruption and later that evening picked Puyat to be at the helm of the DOT.