Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III on Tuesday said the Department of Tourism (DOT) should not pay the ad agency DDB Philippines after they circulated a promotional video about the country online that included stock footage from other countries.
“We should refuse to pay professional fees for such unprofessional work,” Pimentel said, adding that the DOT should ensure that the Philippine government suffered no financial damage as a result of the fiasco.
Furthermore, he said the DOT should also demand the return of whatever payment has already been made to the ad agency.
He also told the DOT to implement better screening of contractors or service providers.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said her department would terminate the contract with DDB and that no public funds were spent on the promotional video.
On Tuesday, a group of Cebu officials said the video fiasco was a form of sabotage and a “demolition job” against Frasco.
In a manifesto, the Cebu officials also expressed their support for Frasco.
“Given the circumstances, it is not difficult to see that the goal of all this is to sabotage the great accomplishments of the DOT secretary, who continues to deliver for the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.”
Signatories of the manifesto included 11 congressmen of Cebu and 53 mayors. Leading the signatories were Daanbantayan Mayor Sun J. Shimura and Barili Mayor Pablo John Garcia IV, the president and secretary of the League of Municipal Mayors Cebu Chapter, respectively.
Frasco, the daughter of Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia, was the mayor of their hometown of Liloan in Cebu and was the spokesman of eventual Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio during the 2022 elections.
“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 group said.
The manifesto also said that Frasco is an asset to the Marcos administration and ranked second as the top-performing Cabinet official next to Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. in a recent survey.
The local officials said that they believe that the supposed demolition job “is perpetrated by individuals with their own questionable agenda, perhaps to sway the trust and confidence of President Marcos in a Cebuana.”
The government is investigating the “Love the Philippines” campaign video after social media users pointed out that stock videos, or non-original footage, including those from other countries, were used for promotional materials.
Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, who has been critical of the DOT campaign, said he would not join calls for Frasco to resign.
“I asked her to fire the consultant. She did. I asked her to correct mistakes and investigate internally. She did. I asked her to be more inclusive with destinations featured. She did. When we resume our session in Congress, we will seek facts. She is open. We can disagree without malice,” Salceda, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said.
“I will criticize openly, as needed. That’s my job as a legislator and a representative of my people. But after heated discussions, we must remain focused on solving problems.”
“And once the controversy about this rebranding effort passes, we will still need to fix our airports, our accommodations, our accessibility. So, no, I will not join calls for her to resign. Certainly not when a lot of it is premised on speculation. I focused on facts in my criticisms. I want to focus on facts and solutions.”
In an interview Tuesday, Salceda also said “I will help her.”
“I am asking everyone to help her. I would like to summon the collective intellect, energy, and innovativeness of the brightest minds in advertising and promotions to help the DOT.”
“Albay will help her. I offer to her my personal experience as former governor of Albay, when we grew foreign tourist arrivals by 4,700 percent, and became the country’s rising tourism star. Albay has 1.32
tourists per resident, pre-pandemic, higher than the 0.57 per resident number nationally. It’s one of the best – if not the best, pound-for-pound,” Salceda added in a subsequent statement.
“I also want to work with her on the Bicol International Airport, and other issues. Let’s move forward,” he said.