DINGDONG Dantes spoke out against the use of his family photos in “Ang Probinsyano.”
The fans first noticed that the hit teleserye photoshopped Dantes’ family photo in 2017. The photo originally featured Dantes, wife Marian Rivera and daughter Maria Letizia during her baptism. Dantes’ face was replaced with the face of Joko Diaz, while Mickey Ferriols’ face was superimposed on Rivera’s. The baby’s face was not replaced.
Then in the Aug. 8 episode of “Ang Probinsyano,” Alice Dixson was seen siting beside a framed photo of herself and Edu Manzano, whose character is Dixson’s character’s husband. But fans of Dantes and Rivera, known as DongYanatics, noticed that the photo was photoshopped from Dantes and Rivera’s wedding.
“Courtesy and fair practice must always be observed especially in an established industry like ours,” Dantes said on Facebook. “But whether or not it is done within the entertainment sector, we should always be reminded of the basic etiquette for online photo use and sharing that includes asking permission and/or citing sources.”
The 38-year-old actor revealed he sent a letter to the producers of “Ang Probinsyano” to complain about the incident. The people behind the show apologized. They said there was no intention to disrespect or offend the Dantes family.
“The production team commissioned a third-party contractor to create the photo props used in the program,” the statement from the production team of “Ang Probinsyano” said. “It was not aware that the original of the photographs used were those from Mr. Dantes’ wedding and the baptism of his daughter. The program is conducting further investigation to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future.”