Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (left) and Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Frasco (Facebook)

Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda made it clear Tuesday, July 4 that he won't call for Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Frasco's resignation in connection with the controversial "Love the Philippines" tourism campaign.

"Once the controversy about this rebranding effort passes, we will still need to fix our airports, our accommodations, our accessibility. So, no, I will not join calls for her to resign. Certainly not when a lot of it is premised on speculation," Salceda said in a statement.

As a "way forward", the Bicol solon appealed to tourism stakeholders to pour their efforts into helping Frasco, whom he has called his friend.

"I am asking everyone to help her. I would like to summon the collective intellect, energy, and innovativeness of the brightest minds in advertising and promotions to help the DOT," he said.

“Albay will help her. I offer to her my personal experience as former Governor of Albay, when we grew foreign tourist arrivals by 4,700 percent, and became the country’s rising tourism star," assured Salceda.

Last week, Salceda called out Frasco over the exclusion of the iconic Mayon Volcano--Albay's top tourism draw--in the new promotional video for the country. Frasco basically responded by saying that there was more to their new tourism campaign than just one video.

And then, DDB Philippines, which had been contracted by DOT, admitted to and apologized over the weekend for its rather embarrassing use of stock footage from other countries in the promotional video. Obviously, this was a big no-no.

This notwithstanding, Salceda mentioned how Frasco has positively responded to his pleas and requests as the fiasco unfolded.

“I asked her to fire the consultant. She did. I asked her to correct mistakes and investigate internally. She did. I asked her to be more inclusive with destinations featured. She did. When we resume session in Congress, we will seek facts. She is open. We can disagree without malice,” the veteran congressman said.

“I will criticize openly, as needed. That’s my job as a legislator and a representative of my people. But after heated discussions, we must remain focus on solving problems," he said.