Eleven congressmen and 47 mayors of Cebu have thrown their support to Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco who is currently in the middle of a controversy following an incident involving the alleged plagiarism of the audio-visual presentation made by an advertising firm behind the “Love the Philippines” tourism slogan.
In a manifesto of support signed by the local officials under the One Cebu Island and released on Monday, July 3, they lamented what they described as a “coordinated demolition job directed at the DOT leadership as a result of the use of stock footages in the video which was supposed to promote the natural beauty of the Philippines.
“We, the Congressmen, City Mayors, Municipal Mayors, and Councilors under the banner of a united and indivisible One Cebu Island, declare our full and unwavering support to the Department of Tourism (DOT) led by our very own, a Cebuana, Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco,” the manifesto read.
“We, as a united One Cebu Island, express our extreme displeasure and strongly condemn the patent mudslinging and dirty politicking directed at Secretary Garcia-Frasco. We, as a Cebuano people, will not tolerate any black propaganda aimed solely at sullying the reputation of Secretary Garcia-Frasco,” it added.
The manifesto was individually signed by the 11 congressmen and 47 mayors, including Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan.
Part of the demolition job, according to the officials, is to mislead the public into believing that the DOT already spent a hefty sum of about P50 million for it.
Frasco, in an earlier statement wherein she announced the termination of the contract with the DDB Philippines, said not a single centavo was paid to the advertising firm.
The officials said the smear campaign came amid the fact that Frasco is the second top performing Cabinet official with an approval rating of 77 percent, and amid her recent accomplishment of being elected as Vice President of the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization) General Assembly and Chair of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and the Pacific.
“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 statement read.
“We strongly believe this demolition job to be perpetrated by individuals with their own questionable agenda, perhaps to sway the trust and confidence of President Marcos in a Cebuana - who represents the very island that delivered the highest number of votes to the President and the Vice President in the 2022 Presidential Elections,” it added.