TOURISM Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo resigned Monday afternoon, her lawyer said Tuesday.
“Yesterday, before the start of the latest Cabinet meeting in Malacañang Palace, Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo tendered her resignation from the Department of Tourism (DOT),” her lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said in a statement.
“Her letter was personally handed by her to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea in the afternoon. Later in the evening, after the Cabinet meeting was when she saw the President to talk to him in private,” Topacio added.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed Teo’s resignation.
“There was a resignation letter [of Teo] that was submitted to the OES (Office of the Executive Secretary) before the meeting with the President last night,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.
But Roque said there was no confirmation yet if President Rodrigo Duterte accepted the resignation.
Topacio said Teo’s “decision to leave her position was made after a long and deliberate reflection and soul-searching with respect to the events that have transpired the past few weeks.”
Teo’s resignation came amid the controversy of P60-million in DOT advertising money being placed on the program of her brothers on the government-owned People’s Television Network Inc. (PTNI).
She was accused of conflict of interest and urged to resign out of delicadeza.