Kat de Castro

Katherine Chloe Sinsuat de Castro,[1] also known as Kat de Castro, is a Filipino journalist, and TV personality, who was formerly the Undersecretary of Tourism Advocacy and Public Affairs of the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) under the former Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo.[2] She took her oath of office at the Malacañang Palace on August 15, 2016. She later resigned from her post after being asked by the Secretary of the DOT to do so.[3] After a year, she was re-appointed as President & CEO of Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-13).

De Castro is one of the three children of TV Patrol news anchor and former Vice President Noli de Castro and former ABS-CBN Current Affairs executive Arlene de Castro, who now heads Bayan Productions.[4] She was among the personalities who actively support the then-Davao City Mayor and now Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign during the 2016 Philippine presidential election. In fact, she is a co-organizer of the DU31: One Love, One Nation Thanksgiving Party held last June 4, 2016 at the Davao Crocodile Park.[5]

She was the former host of the travel show Trip na Trip and business magazine show Swak na Swak, both produced by Bayan Productions, their own production house,[2] and aired on ABS-CBN. She was also a host for her father's own public affairs program Magandang Gabi, Bayan and a reporter for ABS-CBN News.[4]"

De Castro finished Communication Arts degree at Miriam College.[4]

Controversies

De Castro was involved in several controversies in relation to her short stint as Tourism undersecretary. She received overwhelming backlash from netizens who believed there was conflict of interest for allowing her boyfriend, musician Pancho Juanitez, to perform in DOT-sponsored events. Juanitez was also spotted chauffeuring de Castro in official gatherings of the agency.[6]

In May 2018, Commission on Audit (COA) found that there is a memorandum of agreement on file between the DOT and the government-owned People's Television Network (PTV) requiring the latter to air a 6-minute tourism advertisement section in PTV's Kilos Pronto, a public service program. This has been criticized, since at the time of the agreement the Department of Tourism Secretary was Wanda Tulfo Teo, the sister of the producers and hosts of the show (Erwin and Ben Tulfo).[7] De Castro was summoned at the Senate for questioning being the chair of DOT's Bids and Awards Committee, which oversees the bidding process of the contractors for the projects and activities of the department.[8]

De Castro approved an invitation to bid for the procurement of jackets to be given to birthday celebrants in the DOT worth Php1,294,500.[9] The said practice of providing jackets was halted by the succeeding DOT Secretary, Bernadette Romulo-Puyat. In August 2016, Romulo-Puyat requested de Castro to vacate her position in relation to the irregularities that occurred in her office.

References
  1. "Duterte administers oaths of office to 42 new appointees". Manila Bulletin. August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  2. Serato, Ariel (July 7, 2016). "Duterte supporter Kat de Castro assumes post as DOT undersecretary" (in Tagalog). Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  3. Placido, Dharel (August 22, 2016). "Kat De Castro out of DOT". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  4. "Katherine de Castro: After you, KaNoli! - FUNFARE by Ricardo F. Lo". The Philippine Star. November 14, 2000. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  5. Placido, Dharel (May 25, 2016). "Hundreds of thousands expected at 'Du31' party". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  6. "Anak ni Kabayan Noli at BF, bugbog sa netizens (in Filipino)". Abante. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  7. News, ABS-CBN. "Tourism dept ordered 'segment buy' on Tulfo brothers' show: COA". abs-cbn.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  8. "Teo appointees Arlene Mancao, Kat De Castro told to return P114M from PTV ad deal". Politiko. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  9. Ramirez, Robertzon. "No more jackets for DOT birthday celebrants". Philippine Star. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

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