Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (Rep. Salceda's office)


Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda could very well be telling everyone, "I told you so." The admission and apology of DDB Philippines over its rather embarrassing use of stock footage from other countries in the new Philippine promotional video has given Salceda all the ammunition he needs to prove his point to the Department of Tourism's (DOT). "The whole mess with the contractor using stock footage in the promotional video proves my earliest point about the DOT either apologizing to Albay, or firing the consultant," Salceda said in a statement on Sunday night, July 2. "Clearly, the exclusion of Mayon and other tourist attractions intrinsic to the Philippine brand was just a symptom of 'trabahong tamad' (a lazy person's job) that is now evident to everyone," he said. Last week, Salceda called out DOT Secretary Christina Frasco over the exclusion of the iconic Mayon Volcano--Albay's top tourism draw--in the new promotional video for the country. Based on Salceda's subsequent statements and social media postings, Mayon Volcano was too famous and too important for the local tourism industry for it to be snubbed in the promotional video. The launch of the video coincided with the introduction of the Philippines' new tourism slogan: "Love the Philippines". "Since the DOT will not be apologizing (because the video, supposedly, is just a first installment), the way forward seems clear," Salceda said. "The first video was supposedly a 'mood video', according to the contractor. For something as critical as an entire country's image, you don't 'set the mood' with plagiarism," the Bicolano said, alluding to the stock footage taken from countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that was spliced into the DOT video. As for the Love the Philippines slogan--which succeeded the immensely popular "It's more fun in the Philippines" catch phrase--Salceda basically said that the jury was still out on it. "As for the branding itself, the slogan is a creative decision best left to experts and its usefulness will be proven ultimately in tourist numbers. We will know soon enough if it works. So, I don't want to comment on it." "But the way the slogan was launched by this contractor -- my goodness," he said.