One piece of really good news that comes with the start of the Year of the Fire Rooster is the new tourism ad recently launched by our Tourism department and McCann Erickson.
I saw the ad on youtube recently and it was beautiful. For beginners, it did not change the successful “It’s more fun in the Philippines” slogan. If it works, why change it? And we are glad our new Tourism secretary, Ms. Wanda Teo, opted not to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.
But what made the newly launched ad great was, apart from great visuals, its successful portrayal of a truly Filipino character—hospitality and friendliness even to foreigners and strangers. The empathy generated by the mother sharing a snack for her kids with a complete stranger, and calling him “anak” really touches the emotions.
In a jaded world where everything has been reduced to soundbyte or a tweet, the simple values, the caring character (which is truly Filipino) so vividly captured in the many nuances of the word “anak” is a sure winner!
I have always believed that selling the Philippines to the world should go beyond just the sun, the sand and the beaches, a gift of nature we are blessed with. Rather, it must capitalize on the genuineness of our people’s friendship and hospitable nature.
The late Tourism secretary, Smiling Joe Aspiras, epitomized this Filipino hospitality when he proclaimed the “Philippines, where Asia wears a smile” as tagline for our campaigns.
The new ad of the Tourism department reinforces the “smile” with a truly caring empathy.
Congratulations are in order for the DoT on this ad campaign.
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But the good news is blackened by the bad news on the peace and order front just as the year began.
And I refer to the continuing ghastly revelations surrounding the murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo.
That the kidnapping followed by cold-blooded murder was perpetrated by police officers in the guise of pursuing our president’s war on drugs is truly disgusting.
That the murder was perpetrated right inside Camp Crame, headquarters of the Philippine police, is shocking. It makes General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa humiliated beyond words to describe.
That the ill-fated businessman’s corpus was instantly cremated to erase all physical evidence about his death is so inhuman and so un-Filipino. Worse is that the cremated remains were just flushed down the water closet: It is so un-Christian.
How have Filipinos, no matter how low-life, descended to such pits of cruelty and inhumanity?
It is not only South Korean tourists who will think twice about coming to our shores. It is everyone who has read or learned about this dastardly criminal act.
The only possible balm to this sad episode is the sure and unforgiving justice that must be rendered swiftly by the authorities.
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Jitters over the policy pronouncements done in staccato fashion by the new POTUS, Donald Trump, is destabilizing so many in the world where assumptions and givens are suddenly upturned.
The markets are roiled; once-solid friendships are disturbed, as in Mexico and the US of A, Europe and its once-assumed “ally”, not to mention the lack of clarity in America’s relationship with Asia, both minor, mainland and the Far East.
We Filipinos must thank our president for reading the signs well, for abandoning our sacrificial lamb role in Obama’s “pivot” to Asia just in time for the change of administration, and the major shift in American foreign policy.
Duterte has wisely hedged against the Trump irascibility and placed his bets on maintaining friendly ties with China. How the Philippines is able to capitalize on this aperture Chinoise, through investments, trade, tourism and bilateral cooperation will define the next few years, and will jumpstart, hopefully through the Build, Build, Build fervor, our economic take-off after languishing so long in Rostow’s “pre-conditions” stage.
Kiong Hee Huat Tsai! And Mabuhay!