Veteran journalist and public relations man Ramon Tulfo reacted with mockery on Tuesday after one of the self-described former security aides of fugitive ex-lawmaker Zaldy Co listed him among the personalities supposedly handed cash from flood control kickbacks.
“Hahahaha! I wish that was true,” Tulfo wrote on social media, treating the accusation as a punchline rather than a charge to be rebutted.
The claim surfaced during a Tuesday press conference where members of the group calling themselves Co’s “Brave 18” broadened their list of alleged recipients to include media figures, an expansion from earlier testimony that had largely implicated politicians and government officials. According to the Manila Times, one witness said Tulfo routinely accepted paper bags during gatherings in Quezon City, each supposedly holding between P2 million and P3 million. The witness offered no photos, video, or documents to back the account.
Tulfo seized on the physical impossibility the accuser described, arguing that sums that large could not realistically be stuffed into the small container alleged. “How would a large amount of money fit in a single bag? Maybe a bayong (traditional Filipino utility bag),” he said.
The columnist, who entered the public relations trade after leaving mainstream journalism, also turned the accusation into a backhanded boast. “Whoever taught this guy to implicate me, thank you! I consider it an honor to be in the company of the maleta (suitcase) boys,” he said.
He is the eldest of the Tulfo siblings, a clan that includes Senators Erwin and Raffy Tulfo. Broadcaster Arnold Clavio was also named alongside him during Tuesday’s briefing, and Senator Francis Pangilinan has likewise been drawn into the widening allegations.
Senator Erwin Tulfo had earlier been named by the same group as a supposed beneficiary of cash-stuffed luggage. On June 8, he filed a grave oral defamation complaint before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office against three of the alleged bodyguards — Bernard Gumban, Rosebert Waupan, and Benny Bulontate — over accusations he branded “blatant lies.” In his 13-page complaint-affidavit, the senator maintained he never gained from any flood control project or illicit dealing of any kind.
