Palace: Duterte pleased with new DOT chief's moves vs corruption

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday said President Rodrigo Duterte is very pleased with Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat’s recent pronouncement against corruption.

“She was appointed with the express mandate to do good and to fight corruption and she's doing just that,” Roque said.

“The president is very pleased,” he added.

Roque praised Puyat after she revealed that she discovered grave corruption and overspending in the DOT.

READ: Overspending shocks DOT chief

In a television report of ABS-CBN, Puyat was seen getting emotional after finding out about DOT spending.

“I was shocked because every day, I discover something. So I was kind of sad because we are talking about huge money, not just P1 million, P2 million, [but] hundreds of millions. I am from the Department of Agriculture and I saw that our farmers no longer have money,” she said in Filipino in the television report.

 Puyat last week suspended the Tourism Promotions Board's P320-million Buhay Carinderia project over lack of bidding.

She also reportedly discovered overseas fashion shows awarded to designers close to former DOT chief Wanda Tulfo-Teo, golf tournaments, and questionable trips abroad.

In February, Teo was accused of bringing her personal make-up artist and office clerks on her official travels.'

READ: Make-up artist, utility clerk join DOT chief overseas

Documents obtained by The STAR showed that Department of Tourism employees joined Teo in her 2016 and 2017 trips to Dubai, Italy, UK, Russia, Japan, US and Canada “to attend international travel fairs and conduct inventory of DOT foreign offices.” This was denied by the resigned official.

However, the issue was again raised to Puyat.

“You didn’t enter the government to travel around the world. You don’t need to bring a battalion, you have attaché,” Puyat said.

Puyat asked the COA to augment the auditors that would look into all the transactions of DOT.

She said if the COA finds irregularity in the deals, she would stop them.