Senator Nancy Binay said she has been baffled by a transit ad in London extolling the crucial role of Filipino nurses during the coronavirus pandemic.
The campaign slogan read ‘The nurse who gave the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine: A Filipina We give the world out first: The Philippines.’
Binay said while she appreciates the initiative and the effort to give the Philippines the needed boost in the global market, she stressed there seems to be a disconnect in the messaging.
“Is the ad intended to encourage tourists to visit the country? Is it aimed to encourage more foreign investments? Or, is it meant for hospitals abroad to hire our nurses? It’s really vague,” Binay said.
The senator said she considers the transit ad “bothersome.”
“It seems that we are offering the world our nurses—which is a bit off since we are running out of supply of health workers,” she emphasized.
“We don’t want to commodify our people, and we don’t want to be tagged as a labor-exporting country,” Binay, the Senate chairperson of the tourism committee, said.
She also questioned if the London ad campaign was for the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Board of Investments (BOI) or the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
Binay meanwhile said she is still hopeful that the DOT would consider deferring its re-branding plan. Instead, she suggested that the DOT to just continue its “It’s More Fun’ campaign for Philippine tourism.