Ben Tulfo

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Ben Tulfo
Tulfo in 2018
Born	Bienvenido Teshiba Tulfo (1955-03-15) March 15, 1955 (age 66) Davao, Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Other names	Ben Tulfo (known as the host of Bitag.) Bitag (occasionally refers himself by this name in his TV show of the same name) Tol Ben (T3) "Morning Man" during disc jockey days
Occupation	Radio and TV personality, entrepreneur, production company executive
Years active	1996–present
Agent	News5 (2011–2016) PTV (2016–present)
Notable credit(s)	BITAG, Kilos Pronto, Pinoy US Cops
Relatives	Ramon Tulfo (brother) Raffy Tulfo (brother) Erwin Tulfo (brother) Wanda Tulfo Teo (sister)
Family	Ramon S. Tulfo Sr. (1915–1985) (deceased) (father) Caridad Teshiba Tulfo (born 1925) (mother)
Website	bitagmedia.com

Bienvenido "Ben" Teshiba Tulfo (born March 15, 1955) is a Filipino television and radio personality, entrepreneur and production company executive. Ben and his BITAG program have won numerous public service and investigative shows from different award-winning bodies.

He is primarily known for being the brains behind BITAG, a documentary-reality and investigative public service program that also won as the "Best Public Service Program" for many years.

He has also produced shows such as Pinoy US Cops, BITAG Live, and Kilos Pronto.

His siblings include Ramon Tulfo, Raffy Tulfo and Erwin Tulfo, as well as Wanda Tulfo Teo.

Career[]

TV, radio, and print[]

In 1996, Ben was the brains behind the TV show Bitag and was aired on RPN-9. Mon hosted the program but after its successful launch, Ben left the show. Then in 1997, he launched Philippines Most Wanted (patterned closely to America's Most Wanted) on PTV-4 but later expanded from TV to radio (through DZXL (defunct)). The program was hosted together with his brother, Raffy. However, after a year of hosting Philippines Most Wanted, he left the program which in turn, leaving Raffy to go solo.

Ben later returned to the field of broadcast media in 2001. His program, “Bahala si Tulfo” (Now BITAG Live) was later offered a mid-morning time slot by DZME. He was later offered to be the Editor in Chief for Manila Standard, then he wrote his column for "Saksi Ngayon", a sister publication of Manila Standard.

While BST Tri-Media was conceived in 2002, he became a columnist for Philippine Star's Tagalog counterparts: "Pilipino Star Ngayon" and "Pang Masa". As of 2017, he is still writing for these columns.

On July 4, 2005, UNTV Channel 37's Daniel Razon offered him to join UNTV and be one of their anchors. He became one of the hosts of Pilipinas, Gising Ka Na Ba? which was immediately followed by Bahala si Tulfo from 9 AM to 10:30 AM after What's Up Doc?. It was also simulcast at DZME.

Erwin later joined Ben at UNTV in 2006. Bahala Si Tulfo was later renamed to Tulfo Brothers: Bahala si Ben at Erwin. However, in June of the same year, Erwin left to host Isumbong Mo – Tulfo Brothers at RPN-9. Ben went solo again and renamed the show back to its original title.

In 2011, TV5 offered Ben to co-anchor with his two other brothers for T3. In addition, Ben offered TV5 his Pinoy US Cops to be shown at TV5's sister television station AksyonTV.

2013 was a rough year for TV5 as it faced ailing finances.^[1] This does not stop him from staying as a talent-host for T3 together with Erwin and Raffy. However, T3 officially folded up in April 2016. This caused the brothers to part ways with separate commitments within the network.

In June 2017, Ben and Erwin decided to cut ties with TV5. He also pulled out BITAG Live and later moved to PTV-4.

BITAG[]

According to Ben Tulfo, the concept of BITAG was conceived during a Maundy Thursday (March 28) vacation at the Plantation Bay in Mactan, Cebu, back in 2002, with the unique idea of a documentary reality (often shortened as “docu-reality”) show.

He then formed BST Tri-media Production (Now known as BITAG Media Unlimited Incorporated) to produce BITAG as a block timer. Its official launch was on 14 September 2002, a date often mistaken by fans and former production staff to be its original “anniversary”. The show was then aired on ABC Channel 5 (Now TV5). BITAG focuses on ensnaring criminals and their modus operandi with elaborate documentation, surveillance and hidden cameras, often with coordination with the authorities. They also feature drug raids in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and other law enforcement elements.

The show ran for 2 years on ABC5. Ben was then offered a primetime slot together with a co-production contract by Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-13) back in 2004. After signing the contract immediately, Bitag began airing on its first episode with IBC-13, and gained a large following in Philippine television.

For eight years, BITAG ran strong at IBC-13 and UNTV. Ben's Bahala si Tulfo was eventually reformatted into BITAG Live. In 2010, ABS-CBN's The Filipino Channel (TFC) wanted to show BITAG on their channel, and was subsequently offered a timeslot for BITAG to be shown overseas.

As of 2011, BITAG and BITAG Live were still airing on their respective channels. BITAG was with IBC-13, while BITAG Live aired in the morning on UNTV.

In the last quarter of 2012, TV5 offered Ben an exclusive contract for BITAG. This move prompted him to terminate his contract with IBC-13 and pull out BITAG on ABS-CBN TFC, a result of the said contract.

In March 2013, Ben conducted changes to his shows. His daily analysis show, BITAG Live, moved to 92.3 News FM which simulcasts at AksyonTV. From here, he officially concluded his contract with UNTV. In October of the same year, TV5 was later marred with financial limitations, which prompted Ben to move both BITAG and Pinoy US Cops to PTV-4. BITAG Live was unaffected with these changes, thus, allowing him to host his daily show as well.

Right after the financial fiasco at TV5 back in 2013, BITAG together with Pinoy US Cops were moved to PTV-4 and later considered as syndicated programs from 2014 up to the present. Since then, Ben did not accept any exclusive contracts from other media networks.

Up to this day, BITAG still airs during primetime Saturdays on PTV-4 with replays and news episodes being produced from the ground up. BITAG Live later moved as a daily show up to this day in PTV-4 then simulcast at Radyo Pilipinas 738 AM band. Select episodes of the shows are also available and simulcast live in social media.

To date, Ben's BITAG Media Unlimited Inc. is officially a content provider for PTV-4, acquiring the primetime blocks, transferring all of his television shows there.

Kilos Pronto[]

Starting as a segment in BITAG Live, Kilos Pronto's nature is also similar to that of the full-blown program, a call-to-action public service entity. It was supposed to launch as a separate program away from BITAG Live but it never happened.

In October, 2016, Kilos Pronto successfully launched as a full-blown one hour program at UNTV. The show was hosted by Ben Tulfo together with Alex Santos and the late Nikka Alejar. Similar to the segment's roots, it was also a fast-paced program featuring call-to-action public service. However, instead of being a single segment, the show covered different complaints (ranging from local disputes and anomalies) and featured tourist attractions, delicacies, and other tourism-related events through a segment called "Travel Pass".

However, Ben Tulfo had to part ways with UNTV on January, 2017, and then transferred to a new home, the state-run channel PTV-4. In June of the same year, Erwin Tulfo, hosted Kilos Pronto together with his brother after parting ways with TV5.

Numerous time slot changes occurred throughout the course of the program. During its run with UNTV, the show aired from 6:45 PM to 7:45 PM, then later on PTV-4, it ran from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM, and then from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM. However, to accommodate Erwin as he is also a newscaster for PTV News, Kilos Pronto later moved to an earlier time slot of 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM.

Outside of media[]

From 1998 to 2000, Ben ventured in food extrusion technology, a direction that is completely different from his roots. His clients include Universal Robina, Purina, and Feedmix, an agriculture company in the Philippines. Most of the marketed extrusion utilities came from a Kansas-based food extrusion manufacturer.

References[]

External links[]

• BITAG Media website
• Ben Tulfo: I was just challenging Raymart Santiago to a fair fight, inquirer.net