(Eagle News)—-Tourism Promotions Board Chief Operating Officer Cesar Montano on Friday, May 18, said it was then-Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo who introduced him to the owner of the marketing agency behind the controversial “Buhay Carinderia” program.
In an interview over dzbb, Montano said apart from introducing Erlinda Legaspi of MaryLindbert International as a “friend,” it was also Teo who pushed for the payment of P80 million in just a month to the marketing agency even if he said he told his boss the Department of Tourism did not need to pay immediately.
Legaspi has allegedly close ties to designer Renee Salud, whose fashion shows are also being sponsored by the DOT.
It was Salud whom Teo reportedly hired to design the gown the tourism chief then would use when attending President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address in 2017.
“I would have a hard time to get our projects approved if I wouldn’t be supportive,” Montano said, noting that Teo was the “chairman” at that time.
Teo resigned after she came under fire for the DOT’s placement of tourism advertisements worth P60 million in “Kilos Pronto,” the program produced by her brother Ben, and anchored by him and her brother Erwin.
She was replaced by Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, who suspended the “Buhay Carinderia” project after it was found it did not undergo a bidding.
Romulo-Puyat has also asked the Commission on Audit to review the project and other tourism projects.
