Going ga-ga over logos but forgetting the real causes of their continuing despair
With one brouhaha after another, and judging by public reaction to DOT’s new slogan LOVE the Philippines and Pagcor’s new logo, it’s been raining cats and dogs on the “parade of achievements” unveiled by some government agencies.
Besides, nothing of consequence happened on the national scene last week other than the flood in Bicutan that tied traffic for hours in the southern “super” highway.
So as the flak on LOVE started to wane, here came Pagcor and its new logo, giving netizens and traditional media going loco over another logo.
What the agency officials intended to be accomplishment sweeteners for the second State of the Nation address by the President have turned out to be magnets for public opprobrium over their own record of “nada.”
In the case of LOVE…, the DOT immediately canceled their contract with DDB Philippines and insisted they have not paid a centavo of public money to the beleaguered agency, which took the sword for a “mood” board that was truly a product yet to be finalized.
So don’t worry, the DOT says, and following the current government attitude of “A basta!,” they will continue with the embarrassing slogan that has attracted worldwide ridicule.
So don’t fret about the P49 million price tag for the concept and initial footages, even if DDB has every right to collect the milestone accomplishments already delivered. That’s peanuts.
Besides which, how can DOT use the slogan and concept which is an intellectual property of DDB, unless they pay?
The money that will be spent is not in the slogan, but in its use through several vehicles for promotion, from expensive advertising on international media, to printed brochures and give-aways, to LOVE events, outdoor advertising, and so on and so forth.
That is in the billions.
Don’t think about potential corruption, because most of these, particularly placements in international media, do not give commissions, not like the pork barrel.
Think about wasted money, wasted time, and international embarrassment. Those bring more damage than price tags.
Neither does Pagcor’s new logo over which many are making loko-loko fun, which cost the gambling agency a paltry P3 million.
No, P3 million is also peanuts, most especially for Pagcor.
The money in the printing of new office stationery, signages, or maybe gambling chips would still be peanuts to the gambling regulator, so don’t look at the money wasted, which some netizens decry.
Ask instead—whatever is so important about logos? Why go loco over these?
It’s like the slogan change of the DOT. As the aphorism says, “if ain’t broke, why fix it?”
But fix it every newly-appointed secretary wants, regardless.
Truth to tell, the Mon Jimenez (of respected memory) brainchild of “It’s more fun in the Philippines” was quite appropriate because more and better fun was what distinguished us from the regional competition.
This product differentiation captured what a tourist experience in the Philippines would be compared to Vietnam or Malaysia, and now even Hong Kong.
An active nightlife, competitively priced international culinary fare, numerous fiestas, apart from year-round sun and sand, and a musically-inclined people quick to laughter, all rolled into one, made “more fun” a truly Filipino travel experience.
Yet the DOT thought it best to change the come-on from more fun to LOVE. A basta!
Pagcor for its part unveiled the new logo on their 40th anniversary, with the President no less extolling the contributions to the national economy of state-sponsored gambling, in much the same way that DOT rushed their thing for their 50th birthday.
“A basta!” Never mind if it looks like Petron’s “gasul” logo vis-à-vis Pagcor’s “sugal” logo. And that’s probably the kindest meme on social media after the much maligned logo was unveiled.
Or is it because the old Pagcor logo was a pale yellow (parang dilawan na kumukupas) and green (Sara’s color)?
They might as well just change the colors to red and blue, and the yellow sun to gold coins if there is an orchestrated effort to rewrite history’s colors.
Recall too that Malacanang’s insistence on Maharlika bulldozed through all the trepidations and criticisms of the UP School of Economics and so many others on what we thought was a humpty-dumpty idea?
Sabi nang “A basta!”
And did public opinion and the Supreme Court’s disbarment of Larry Gadon affect Malacanang at all, even with a former chief justice as executive secretary?
Neither. Instead, the President himself administered the oath of office to the disbarred lawyer in the halls of Malacanang, no less.
They probably call that “political will,” a hallmark of “strong leadership.”
Against all odds, or the “odds” are not strong enough?
Issues like these have had mere 72 hours to a week of shelf life in media attention.
And the criticisms come mostly from alert netizens, while the political opposition is limited to a solitary voice in the Senate, and the four or five progressive party-list congressmen in the HoR.
The thinking public gets entertained momentarily, forgetting the rising cost of living, the traffic, the water shortages even, happy to poke fun at these examples of “good” governance.
Except of course, if the Senate holds investigations “in aid of legislation.”
Only such well-publicized hearings, which star clownish inquisitors sparring against clueless resource persons, can prolong the shelf life of such “fiascoes” as LOVE and Maharlika.
In the case of the prolonged decision on Maharlika, the public got tired of hearing what to most was incomprehensible to begin with, such that surveys later showed people thought it was a bright idea, that it would help bring good tidings to their dreary lives.
Pulse Asia’s latest survey tells us that people are most concerned with inflation, wages unable to match the rising prices, and lack of employment.
All of these are politics of the stomach.
Yet, economic issues do not stoke so much public anger until it becomes unbearable.
Filipinos are known to be “matiisin,” the “masa” specially.
Unlike the French, who create mayhem when retirement age is adjusted a few years more, or go on crippling nationwide strikes when they demand better wages, the Filipino, in the words of Erap’s favorite song, are lulled by “Kahit na Magtiis.”
Recall the lyrics, sung by Basil Valdez: “Kahit na magtiis ng matinding dusa/ kahit apihin mo ang aking pagsinta…//”
An example is the saga of Janet Napoles and the ghost PDAF projects.
The public was so incensed at larceny most grave, theft of public funds most brazen, and the legislator-participants so numerous.
They went to the streets, until the Supreme Court proscribed the pork barrel, and the Ombudsman hastily filed cases against some of the legislators and their cohort Napoles.
Pero que pasa, despues de algun tiempo?
The public elected two of the accused legislators back into the halls of the “august.”
Meanwhile, one staff member of one legislator died in prison after conviction, with none but his family in grief. Another staff member of the other senator is still hiding from the extremely long arms of Philippine law.
And while Madam Janet, toast of Congress 10 years back, still languishes in jail, the people have lost interest in the saga of Napoles and her ghosts.
Meanwhile, too, and despite the Supreme Court’s legal proscription, the never-ending practice of legislators enriching themselves through another mutation of the pork has become more brazen, with a trillion or so of our budget being divided annually by their undiminished greed.
But instead of ghost projects, we have a plenitude of river-dredging, which COA cannot fathom enough even if their auditors dived into murky waters.
Plus flood control projects which cannot control flooding.
And sub-standard roads and bridges, culverts, and worst of all, those landslide-prevention rip-raps made of coir and mesh wire with a thin layer of cement, which will crumble with the rain, and make pre-planned repairs necessary.
And the “cuts” have increased tremendously, from 10 percent in the past, to 25 percent, and now, allegedly as high as 40 percent of project cost. Madre mia!
A basta ya! “Porque estamos en poder?” So what? What are we in power for?
Even many media practitioners without Google’s help are no longer able to identify the man who flaunted that statement three generations ago.
What a country!
Going ga-ga over logos but forgetting the real causes of their continuing despair.
If Mao said “religion is the opium of the people,” here in our benighted land, logos and slogans, memes and “kantiyawan” are our opium.
As we drown our problems with beer for the middle class, gin bulag, ‘ador-‘ador and tuba for the poor.
Ay Pilipinas, “kay hirap mong mahalin”!