‘Mahalin ang Pilipinas’

Inspite of the hue and cry over some “stock footages” featuring tourism attractions in other countries, the freshly launched country brand “Love the Philippines” of the Department of Tourism (DOT) is here to stay. And after what were all said and done, so to speak, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco also remains in the Cabinet of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM). Claiming no public funds were paid for the “mood video,” Frasco asserted the rights of the DOT to terminate the contract with the agency that produced the P49-million video used in the launch of “Love the Philippines” last June 27.

PBBM virtually saved the day for the embattled Sec.Frasco whom he credited for taking decisive actions on the matter. Asked over the weekend if Frasco still enjoys his trust and confidence, the Chief Executive retorted: “I think she has it under control. She knows what to do. What she has done so far inspires confidence that she will fix the problem and that the campaign of Love the Philippines will be as successful as we hope for it to be.”

The new country brand “Love the Philippines” initially raised the hackles of Albay Rep. Joey Salceda. The feisty lawmaker deplored in strongest terms the depiction of the iconic Mt. Mayon of Albay into mere pixel in the country brand logo.

Following the furor, the DDB Philippines that produced the unwanted “stock footages” apologized for it. While describing the use of “mood video” as a standard practice in their industry, the agency accepted its full responsibility. When the dust settled, the DDB Philippines was the only party, so far, held accountable for the entire brouhaha.

A lawyer by profession, Frasco immediately announced the DOT will investigate how such “stock footages” came into this DOT contract with the DDB Philippines. Even after the advertising agency issued a public apology and its contract terminated, Frasco absorbed the full blowback of the DOT fiasco. However, this averted what could have been a full-blown scandal.

Congressman Salceda still believes though Sec.Frasco still has a lot of explaining to do on this DOT fiasco. As far as lawmakers are concerned, Salceda pointed out, Sec.Frasco must present and submit the results and recommendations of the DOT’s internal investigation into this controversy-rocked contract with the DDB Philippines.  Since the 19th Congress is still in recess, the congressional inquiry won’t happen yet until sessions of both chambers resume this July 24.

Salceda and Frasco are actually political allies dating back during the vice presidential campaign of former Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte who run and won in the May, 2022 elections. Running for re-election as Mayor of Liloan City in Cebu, Frasco was the official spokesperson of then Mayor Sara. Salceda, on the other hand, coined the Ro-Sa tandem that pushed for the campaign for ex-VP Leni Robredo as Presidential bet with Mayor Sara as her VP runningmate.

Long before “Love the Philippines” got mired in the DOT controversy, its Tagalog translation – “Mahalin ang Pilipinas” – has been the battle cry, so to speak, of VP Sara since she first became an elected politician. So it should not be surprising that the DOT adopted “Love the Philippines” country brand which loosely translated in English means: “Mahalin ang Pilipinas.”

Following the career track in politics of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, she first got elected as vice mayor of Davao City in 2007 to 2010 while her father was then Mayor of their home city. The father-and-daughter switched positions as Mayor and Vice Mayor of Davao City.

With a maternal grandfather a Jewish who fled to the Philippines from Germany during World War II, VP Sara was born to a half-German mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman (nee) Duterte. When she became VP, Sara kept her public espousal for love of her birthplace – the Philippines.

As VP, she has kept standard extro or ending of her public speeches which she always caps with ardent appeals: “Mahalin natin ang Pilipinas.”

Salceda believes VP Sara’s love for country is much more demonstrated as the concurrent Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd). Being a mother of three children, he credited VP Sara for being able to ensure that children and students went back to school safely without any COVID-19 resurgence.

The gradual resumption last year to the face-to-face classes at all levels of schools that got underway nationwide paved the way for the “national reopening” of the Philippines after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Salceda recalled.  To Salceda, this is the top “executive accomplishment” of the PBBM administration in its first year in office. After more than two years of the closures of schools during the pandemic, Salceda believes the onsite and physical return to schools of students contributed a lot to the economic recovery of the country as well.

Giving PBBM a grade of eight in a scale of ten as the highest, Salceda credited VP Sara to some of the better performances in key areas of governance in the first year in office of this administration. This is the same love for country, Salceda explained, where VP Sara is obviously coming from in her strong support for the approval of the bill on the return of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) as mandatory in the college curriculum.

VP Sara is her self a member of the ROTC. She got confirmed by the Congressional Commission on Appointments on her promotion as Army Colonel.

Naturally, VP Sara also publicly rants against intrusions of communist ideology in the country’s education system.

The ROTC bill is pending passage in Congress and is among the new set of priority bills approved by the Legislative-Executive Advisory Council (LEDAC) that PBBM convened last week at Malacanang.

“This (ROTC bill) is to instill love for country, especially by our youth as future leaders of the Philippines,” Salceda enthused.

So by complementarity, the DOT keeps “Love the Philippines,” or “Mahalin  ang Pilipinas” as the new country brand hallmark.