A GROUP of officials in Cebu has strongly condemned the attacks directed at Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco over the country’s controversial new tourism slogan and campaign video that turned out to have included images from other countries.
In a manifesto posted on Monday, July 3, 2023, 11 House representatives, and 54 mayors and members of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP)-Cebu Chapter expressed their support for the secretary of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
Daanbantayan Mayor and LMP-Cebu President Sun Shimura approved the manifesto that was noted by LMP-Cebu Secretary Pablo John Garcia IV.
The manifesto said the attack was a product of “patent mudslinging and dirty politicking” targeting the reputation of Frasco.
Economic recovery
On the same day, the Cebu Provincial Board approved a resolution supporting the DOT’s newest slogan “Love the Philippines,” that aims to further promote the country as a top tourist destination.
“The entire Province of Cebu finds it imperative to fully support this initiative, as it also resonates with the province’s efforts to fully utilize the benefits of tourism for economic recovery, economic growth and countryside development,” the resolution reads.
The manifesto described the fiasco as “a coordinated demolition job” against Frasco’s leadership of the country’s tourism sector.
“We maintain that this barrage of criticisms in social and mainstream media is aimed at destroying neither the DOT nor the concerned private advertisement agency, but Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco herself,” the local officials said in the manifesto.
“We strongly believe this demolition job to be perpetrated by individuals with their own questionable agenda, perhaps to sway the trust and confidence of President (Ferdinand) Marcos (Jr.) in a Cebuana,” it added.
However, the manifesto did not specify who was behind the alleged demolition job.
The manifesto added that Frasco was a valuable asset among President Marcos’s Cabinet members for conducting herself in a “most commendable manner” for both domestic and international audiences.
Frasco ranked second to Interior Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. among the top-performing Cabinet officials in a recent survey, according to the manifesto, which also cited Frasco’s election as vice president of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly and chairperson of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and the Pacific during the recent 55th meeting of the world tourism body.
In fact, it was the Philippines, represented by Frasco, that was elected vice president and chair, according to the DOT’s press statement on the June election.
The DOT’s newest tourism slogan, “Love the Philippines” received mixed reactions from the public for allegedly not being original, while the new video campaign material received criticism for containing stock video footage that was not even shot in the Philippines.
The local officials said the DOT had not paid for the production of the new promotional audio-visual presentation (AVP) which is believed to have been commissioned for around P50 million.
The new AVP was produced by DDB Philippines, the contracted ad agency.
On July 3, DOT terminated its contract with DDB Philippines for its failure to comply with one of the Tourism department’s requirements, “originality.”
The ad agency has apologized to the DOT and to the general public over the use of stock footage in the new campaign material.
The AVP has already been taken down both from Youtube and the DOT’s official Facebook page. (EHP, CTL)