Teo's lawyer Topacio calls Mon Tulfo ‘ulyanin’

The legal counsel of former Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo on Thursday hit back at columnist Ramon Tulfo for his rather scathing allegations against him in his column, and even called the latter "ulyanin" or "senile."

In a media forum in Quezon City, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio lashed out at the eldest Tulfo for calling him "all talk" and without care for his client.

"Yung sinasabi niyang the guy is all talk, he does not care about 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.

"Ngayon, when I was talking for myself, hindi totoo yun. A lawyer never gives any information publicly without any clearance from his client. And my client in this case is Secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo," he added.

Ramon released his piece on his column "On Target" on the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday, wherein he defended Wanda in the controversy she was embroiled into on the placement of the tourism department's P60-million advertisements on his brothers' television program.

However, in the same column, Ramon castigated his brother Ben and Topacio.

"He doesn’t care about his client; he only cares about getting publicity from a controversy," Ramon said of Topacio.

Ramon also belied Topacio's claim that the Tulfo brothers agreed in a meeting to return the P60 million.

"I was never consulted. Nor were Ben, Erwin or Raffy. And why would I return the money that I never got in the first place?" he said.

But Topacio insisted that he was only stating what Wanda told him in their phone conversation on day that we announced her resignation.

"Yun ang sinabi sa akin ni Secretary Teo. Would I have any reason at that time to doubt the statements of my client?" he said.

"As a lawyer, I am basically an agent of my client. I do what my client tells me to do.... We cannot be more popish than the Pope. Those were my instructions from my clients. He's not my client so I don't give a whip at what Mon Tulfo says," he added.

The lawyer, however, refused to comment if the column confirms that there is a rift among the Tulfo siblings.

"[I have] no idea. I don't want to delve into that. That is something that only belongs well within the family. I am out of it kung may hidwaan sila," he said. —NB, GMA News