Selling the Philippines to tourists (and foreign investors) is “madaling sabihin, mahirap gawin” (easy to say, hard to do), but many Filipinos are doing it anyway. They love their motherland and need not be told to love her. They have many beautiful sceneries and good communities to be proud of, but the reason why it is so easy for people like self-employed digital creator Marvin and “MA Student sa Araw, Kontesera sa Gabi” Kate to love the Philippines is because Lupang Tinubuan is loving them back.
From facebooking a simple birthday greeting of a kababayan in the City of San Pedro, Laguna to being proud of every visited underground river, mountain, cave, and sea in Palawan, Marvin is now dearly loved and respected by his social media followers. But his videos during his weeklong trip to the province are a huge help in selling the Philippines because the government is spending millions and millions of pesos on promoting the slogan alone, but it is usually sloppy and sullied. Marvin, a family man, was able to save by being a tricycle driver to witness God’s grace more than 700 kilometers away from his house in the CALABARZON region going to MIMAROPA region’s Puerto Princesa, El Nido, Coron, and other far-flung areas in Palawan. In the Q&A, Kate shares in the contests (hence the slang word “kontesera”) the content of her heart, the various types of love meant for the overwhelming beauty of nature, old and new friendships, and the talent of self and others.
Now the other part. The upsetting one.
On-screen world news in the past few days brought up the Philippine slogan hullaballoo. BBC headlined, “Apology after Philippines tourism video uses foreign footage,” details of which included:
“A Philippines advertising agency has apologised for using footage of other countries in a promotional tourism video.
“The campaign used images of rice terraces in Indonesia, sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates and an aircraft landing in Switzerland.
“The agency, DDB Philippines, apologised for the ‘unfortunate oversight’.”
CNN carried almost the same banner and under subhead “‘Love the Philippines’ campaign” with the following:
“Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco previously told CNN Philippines that the DOT spent 49 million pesos (approximately $880,000) on the new “Love the Philippines” campaign and slogan, which replaces the ‘It’s More Fun In the Philippines’ slogan from over a decade ago.
“While the department insists ‘no public funds’ were used for the video in question, they said they accept some responsibility for the backlash.
“The DOT holds the responsibility of promoting the country to the highest standard. Therefore, it will not hesitate to exact accountability and take the necessary action to protect the interest of the country even as it continues to exhaust all efforts to develop and promote the Philippine tourist industry,” the department said in its statement.
“Last year, tourism represented 17% of the country’s GDP, the World Travel and Tourism Council reported in June, according to CNN Philippines.
“Frasco said the new campaign aims to reintroduce what the country has to offer post-pandemic.
“‘Love the Philippines’ is a recognition of our natural assets, our storied history, our rich culture and diversity. There is so much more to the Philippines than the fun and adventure that we have so far articulated to the world,” she said in a speech launching the new campaign.
“However, controversy over the recent video may threaten the campaign’s future before it’s fully taken off.”
Fellow Filipinos, who among us are walang hiya (shameless)? The DOT fiasco is not the first and it will not be the last. This begs another question: Is our concept of walang hiya now being made confusing with utang na loob (debt of gratitude)? Obviously, top government appointees made “tougher” (read: mas pinakapal ang apog) by traditional political families will remain “trusted,” with no need to resign from their crucial positions despite legitimate criticisms as the citizenry is generally indifferent because they are the ones sitting. Kasi raw sila ang nakaupo. How uncritical. The international community, however, knows all this and more.
When Marvin sits in the driver’s seat and Kate (if lucky to win) sits on the throne of beauty contests or during break time of their shows, their minds will work again not only for themselves but also for a better Philippines. A million thanks to the abilities of the two San Pedro-based bloggers and many other Filipino citizens in meritoriously introducing the world to how beautiful our nation is. Meanwhile, millions of pesos are squandered by tourism officials and creative communicators of government because lazy work is not forbidden to them. In other words, pwede ang trabahong tamad; in fact, Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications Paul Soriano congratulated DOT and its secretary just last week on Twitter.With Marvin and Kate’s active discoveries of pristine natural beauty and grace and other endeavors that do not cost the public treasury, but help a lot, our hope is that more Filipinos would also detect acting jobs across crucial government posts. Ultimately, we can convey the slogan that some enthusiasts think of (not mine): Ang magandang bating pangwakas na “Nagmamahal, Pilipinas” (Love, the Philippines).
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
