- Bitag (Ben Tulfo) versus Imbestigador (Mike Enriquez)
- Ben Tulfo slams Mike Enriquez for turning DZBB into ‘home shopping’ channel
- Ben Tulfo says Mike Enriquez’s crime buster image is a fluke
Two of the country’s ‘high profile personalities’ in the field of broadcast journalism and ‘hard-hitting news anchors’—Ben Tulfo and Mike Enriquez are at ‘word war’; to which the former recently threatened and challenged the latter after making ‘fun’ out of an issue on Department of Tourism’s (DoT) irregular ad buy aired during the blocked time of Bitag Media Unlimited, Inc. (BMUI), which is run by the brother of Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo—Ben Tulfo.
Tulfo fiercely wrote a statement addressed to Enriquez and titled as ‘Now it’s my turn’: “Lamang gusto mong gawing katatawanan ang mga seryosong isyu tulad ng inilabas na mga binaluktot na balita ng mga dilawang media tulad mo… laban sa DOT secretary at sa Tulfo Brothers (Ben & Erwin).
“Mike, seryosong isyu, ‘wag mong gawing katatawanan1 dapat ang PTV-4 ang hiningan mo ng paliwanag dahil COA ang sumita sa PTV-4. Ang BMUI ay sa ilalim ng PTV-4! Pero ikaw Mike, sinalsal niyo ang balita. Ba’t di mo nalang sinalsal sarili mo?
“Ginawa mo ako at ang mga kapatid ko na “katatawanan.” P’wes may version din akong katatawanan laban sayo! Gusto ko pa rin maging “professional” dahil pareho tayong high profile personalities sa media… but you fired the first shot! I’ve no choice but fire back!
“You guys made fun of me at my expense… I’m not going to let you get away with this. Get ready! I’ll do my livestream. Very special edition. No holds-barred. Unfiltered!
“Mike Enriquez, let me give you a dose of your own f*cking medicine! It’s me BEN TULFO! ABANGAN in 2 hours.”
https://www.facebook.com/bentulfounfiltered/videos/1814364475540154/
Indeed, Tulfo did a live video via his BITAG Live and mocked Enriquez. He even utilized an improvised coffee pouch and a big canned of sardines, labelled as KO-PI-NYA and BUMA. A video is attached on this article.
Posted by BITAG Live: ANO SAY MO, MIKE ENRIQUEZ?
Basahin at tignan mo maigi ang label ng sardinas mo!
BUMA tang’na’mo! (tomato with chili)
Gusto mo pala ng lokohan ha? Ito, spoof lang! Panoorin mo ang livestream ko sa Ben Tulfo Unfiltered. Lamang pinaglaruan mo ang Tulfo Brothers (Ben & Erwin). Dinamay niyo si DOT Sec. Wanda.
PTV-4 ang isyu. Hindi ako. Gusto lang makita ng COA ang kontrata namin sa Kilos Pronto. Sinalsal niyo ang balita ng uhugin mong muchacho na si Joel Reyes Zobel na isang medya-medya.
Go ahead, Mike & Joel, LIKE & SHARE this!
On May 1, according to an article from GMA News, Senator Francis Pangilinan urged the Ombudsman to look into the P60 million-worth of advertisements that the Department of Tourism had aired on state-run station PTV.
“The P60-million Department of Tourism ad buy is on its face highly irregular and the Ombudsman should look into it,” Pangilinan said in a press statement.
The contract was made government-to-government as Teo have defended.
“The contract is between DOT and PTV4. It was a government-to-government contract. It went through a bidding and it was reviewed by our legal. All checks were made payable to PTV4. Wala pong cheke na pumunta sa ibang production house and it was done when… we issued the checks when the deliverables were met.”
In an another article lifted from Rappler.com it mentioned that People’s Television Network Incoporated’s (PTNI) disbursement records in 2017 showed three checks were issued to BMUI amounting to P60,009,560 and these are listed as follows:
- P22,089,560 released on May 11, 2017, with disbursement voucher number 17050779
- P18.96 million released on November 8, 2017, with disbursement voucher number 17102125
- P18.96 million released on December 15, 2017, with disbursement voucher number 17122485
But Commission on Audit (COA) said there was no proper documentation for the three payments made to BMUI, as PTNI failed to present a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) or a Certificate of Performance on the disbursements.
“Due to the absence of the documents mentioned and the deficiencies noted, the accuracy, legality and validity of the payments made to Blocktimer BMUI in the amount of P60,009,560.00 could not be ascertained,” COA said.
Thus, this is in violation of Presidential Decree No. 1455, series of 1978 or the Government Auditing Code and COA Circular No. 2012-001, which lists the required documents for government transactions as pointed out by COA.
Though there was no admission on the irregularity of the said transaction, Ben took to his facebook page, particularly on the BITAG Live his disgust over Mike and a certain Joel. He even went as far as posting another mockery as an attack to GMA-7’s broadcast journalist.
