Isabela 1st district Rep. Tonypet Albano (left), and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro (Screenshots from YouTube live)

Two congressmen clashed during the budget hearing of the Department of Tourism (DOT) before the House Committee on Appropriations, particularly on the controversial "Love the Philippines" tourism campaign. 

During the briefing Tuesday, Aug. 15, Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro grilled DOT officials on who within the agency approved the release of the now infamous, "plagiarized" Philippine promotional video made by contractor Doyle, Dane & Bernbach (DDB) Philippines. 

Sitting head in palm just a few feet away from Castro was majority member Isabela 1st district Rep. Tonypet Albano, who at that point simply wanted his colleagues to "let go" of the Love the Philippines issue. 

DOT officials led by Secretary Christina Frasco basically told Castro that the green-lighting of the Love the Philippines promotional video was made by the agency as a whole, and that it was made on the assumption that DDB Philippines-- a company of repute--wouldn't use stock footage from foreign tourist sites to promote the Philippines. 

"Dapat yung video ay vini-vet natin kung ito ay original or not (We need to vet the video first whether it's original or not) right before we show it to the public. Yung lang naman po yung lesson na gusto nating makuha sa experience na ito (That's the lesson that we want to get from this experience)," Castro said. 

"Ibig sabihin wala tayong pini-pin down dito dahil sinasabi niyo naman (This means we're not pinning anybody down since you said that) it's the decision of the whole leadership ng DOT...sana hindi na mangyari ito sa mga susunod na panahon (I hope this doesn't happen again in the future)," the Makabayan solon said to end her budget interpellation. 

Afterwards, Albano made a manifestation to basically tell his fellow solons to drop the Love the Philippines issue already to quicken the pace of hearing. He said the DOT has already addressed the controversy. 

"We keep harping this and this point has been taken by a lot of congressmen...the DOT has already corrected the measure and a lot of departments actually don't even admit to this. And I laud the efforts of the secretary and the whole team of the DOT because they are doing something about it," he said. 

"So instead of us harping on the DOT because they have a lot of job[s] to do, and we have a lot of jobs to do here, may I also request our congressmen to already--since this has been answered, and it's taking my time, and I'm number 14--to already let go of this issue," added an obviously ticked Albano. 

According to the Isabela solon, the tourism rebranding was a "non-essence issue" as far as the DOT budget was concerned. "Let's go straight to the point in this hearing to get the budget ready," he added. 

Castro, who felt alluded to by Albano, had to respond. 

"Malaking kahihiyan natin ito. Hindi pwedeng ipagbalewala ito kung may mga tanong na hindi pa nasasagot sa akin (This was a huge embarrassment. I can't ignore this especially if I'm still looking for answers)," she said. 

She noted that Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel and OFW Party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino were able to ask the DOT executives about the botched rebrand effort earlier in the budget hearing. 

"Malaking budget po ito at syempre karapatan ng bawat kongresista naman dito kung ano yung topic na pwede niyang i-raise (We're talking about a huge budget and of course, it's the right of each congressman here to raise whatever topic they want)," Castro said. 

Mere seconds later, Albano approached Castro to shake her hand. They also hugged to show that all was well. 

DDB Philippines earlier won the P49,9-million contract for the rebranded Philippine tourism campaign under Love the Philippines. The campaign was launched to much fanfare last June 27. 

The contractor later admitted to using stock footage from other countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Switzerland, and Dubai in the promotional video it put together. 

Frasco told the appropriations panel that not a single peso in public fund was paid to DDB Philippines.