(Eagle News) — Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio hit back at Ramon Tulfo after the columnist described him as an “all talk” counsel who doesn’t care for his client.
“He must have forgotten, kasi ulyanin na nga, na sometime in the year 2000 or 1999, he was my client, together with Raffy Tulfo. So why would he hire me if I were all talk?” he said.
Topacio also denied the columnist’s claim the lawyer did not consult the Tulfo family when he said they had plans of returning the P60 million paid to Ben Tulfo’s Bitag Media Unlimited Inc.
The Commission on Audit had red-flagged the project that saw the placement of tourism advertisements by the Department of Tourism–headed by the Tulfos’ sister Wanda Teo–in the program of Ben Tulfo and Erwin Tulfo on PTV4.
The COA said the P60-million project was not supported by documents.
According to Topacio, it was Teo, his client, who gave him the information over the phone.
“I do what my client tells me to do..,” he said.
In his column “On Target” published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Ramon Tulfo also defended Teo from the controversy, blaming their brother, Ben Tulfo, whom he called a “black sheep,” for her fate.
Teo has tendered her resignation and was replaced by Agriculture undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.