(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte has given blanket authority to new Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat for her to investigate alleged anomalies and other perceived irregularities inside the Department of Tourism.
Special Assistant to the President, Secretary Christopher “Bong” Go, said that President Duterte is supportive of the reforms being implemented by Secretary Puyat in the tourism department once headed by Wanda Teo.
The Commission on Audit (COA) will also help the tourism secretary address the illegal activities done by the previous tourism administration officials, Go said.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque also confirmed that President Duterte is “very pleased” with Secretary Puyat’s performance.
“She was appointed with the express mandate to do good and to fight corruption, and she’s doing just that,” Roque said.
“President’s very pleased,” Roque said.
He also explained that the President is also supporting the reorganization being done by Secretary Puyat.
“Very supportive. Of course, all Cabinet Secretaries, especially those who had just been appointed, enjoy full trust and confidence of the President, and we would want them to have a fresh start, and we would want them to pick their own management team so that they can be the most effective in their jobs,” he said.
President Duterte administered the oath of office of Puyat on Monday, May 14.
Puyat replaced Teo who recently resigned from her post after the controversial P60-million advertisement deal between the DoT and government network PTV-4.
Under the deal, the payment would go to its block-timer Bitag Media Unlimited, Inc., the media production outfit of Teo’s brother, Ben Tulfo.
Prior to her appointment, Puyat was an Undersecretary for Administration, Agribusiness and Marketing, and Regional Engagementat the Department of Agriculture.
She also served as an Undersecretary for Special Concerns at the Agriculture department during the Aquino administration.
Puyat is the daughter of former Senator and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Rosie Lovely Tecson-Romulo.
She was widowed in 2010 after her husband, Atty. David Puyat, died of a heart attack.
Puyat earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Economics from the University of the Philippines where she also taught for nine years.
