Teo clarifies: not make-up artist but executive assistant
Published Feb 17, 2018 10:11 am
By Antonio Colina IV
Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo denied on Friday that she had tagged along her make-up artist and utility personnel in domestic and international travels despite the warning issued by President Rodrigo R. Duterte against government officials going on excessive travels.
Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo (DOT/Manila Bulletin)
In a press conference, Teo said Angelito Ucol is not her makeup artist but her executive assistant, who went through proper application process before he was hired by the agency.
“Other secretaries, they got their families, they got their sons, they got their daughters, I did not get any of my family, I got somebody who applied to me. He is not a makeup artist, he goes with me in (my) trips, he works in the office, he files, he types,” she said.
The secretary also denied having been to countries where she had been accused of visiting in her capacity as the tourism chief along with other workers at her office without the knowledge of Malacañang Palace.
“I did not go to these places. I’ve have been to these places when I was still in the private sector. When I became secretary of tourism hindi po ako pumunta sa Dubai, hindi pa pumunta sa Sydney (I have not been to Dubai, I have not been to Sydney), and I went to Russia with the President,” she said.
The tourism chief said she is more selective of her travels after Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued the guidelines on January 3, governing rules on foreign trips of the public officials.
She claimed the President made a pronouncement in one of the Cabinet meetings that secretaries are exempted from the travel rules in order to carry out their functions, except for their undersecretaries and assistant secretaries.
“I don’t want to travel anymore because I have been to these places many times, because it is in our mandate, I have to go out, I have to meet the tour operators, I have to meet with investors, I have to meet with people,” she said.
The secretary said she had also sent some of the personnel who have worked for up to 30 years with DOT on travel aboard a popular cruise line when it gave the department 10 cabins at no cost to DOT during its maiden cruise.
“I did not give it to my undersecretaries and assistant secretaries because they get to travel. Instead, I gave it to little people. Walang gastos ang gobyerno doon (the government did not spend), because it was for free,” she said.
Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo (DOT/Manila Bulletin)
In a press conference, Teo said Angelito Ucol is not her makeup artist but her executive assistant, who went through proper application process before he was hired by the agency.
“Other secretaries, they got their families, they got their sons, they got their daughters, I did not get any of my family, I got somebody who applied to me. He is not a makeup artist, he goes with me in (my) trips, he works in the office, he files, he types,” she said.
The secretary also denied having been to countries where she had been accused of visiting in her capacity as the tourism chief along with other workers at her office without the knowledge of Malacañang Palace.
“I did not go to these places. I’ve have been to these places when I was still in the private sector. When I became secretary of tourism hindi po ako pumunta sa Dubai, hindi pa pumunta sa Sydney (I have not been to Dubai, I have not been to Sydney), and I went to Russia with the President,” she said.
The tourism chief said she is more selective of her travels after Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued the guidelines on January 3, governing rules on foreign trips of the public officials.
She claimed the President made a pronouncement in one of the Cabinet meetings that secretaries are exempted from the travel rules in order to carry out their functions, except for their undersecretaries and assistant secretaries.
“I don’t want to travel anymore because I have been to these places many times, because it is in our mandate, I have to go out, I have to meet the tour operators, I have to meet with investors, I have to meet with people,” she said.
The secretary said she had also sent some of the personnel who have worked for up to 30 years with DOT on travel aboard a popular cruise line when it gave the department 10 cabins at no cost to DOT during its maiden cruise.
“I did not give it to my undersecretaries and assistant secretaries because they get to travel. Instead, I gave it to little people. Walang gastos ang gobyerno doon (the government did not spend), because it was for free,” she said.