The Philippine government will write a formal letter to the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy to rectify its statement that allegedly ruined the country’s reputation, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said Tuesday.
Frasco made the pronouncement after Senator Nancy Binay inquired about the statement made by Indonesian Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno in July at the height of the controversial “Love the Philippines” tourism campaign of the Department of Tourism.
“Are you not aware of that statement of the Indonesian Tourism minister?” Binay asked Frasco during the Senate Committee on Finance’s deliberation on the agency’s proposed P214.3 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Binay was referring to Uno’s statement “thanking” the Philippines for the “free promotion” for Indonesia after the agency launched the “Love the Philippines” tourism campaign material that featured several tourist spots that were not located in the country, including the Tegalalang rice terraces which is in Bali, Indonesia.
Responding to the lawmaker’s query, Frasco denied that the agency used the mood video produced by DBB Philippines, the advertising agency that secured the procurement process, on the sidelines of the United Nations World Tourism Organization in Cambodia in June.
“To clarify, the UN-WTO conference which I attended happened prior to the launch of the video in question. The video that was shown during the dinner hosted by the Philippine government in UN-WTO was the video that was made in-house and did not use any of the footages that were used in the video launch to support the tourism rebranding,” the Tourism chief said.
Binay, who chairs the Senate Committee on Tourism, asked Frasco how the Indonesian tourism chief came up with the statement.
“We categorically deny showing the video in question during the UN-WTO,” she stressed while admitting that Uno attended the same event in Cambodia.
This prompted Binay to ask Frasco if she had attempted to rectify the Indonesian tourism chief’s statement.
“Did you write to the DFA to write a diplomatic protest or something like that to call out the attention of the Indonesian ambassador?” she asked.
According to DOT Assistant Secretary Verna Buensuceso, the agency reached out to their counterparts in the Indonesian Tourism and Creative Economy to clarify that “what we had shown in the dinner that was hosted by the Philippines in Cambodia was actually an in-house production and was certainly not about the video and the ad in question.”
Binay said that based on the answers given by the DoT, the Indonesian tourism chief must be “lying”.
“You should demand an apology from that tourism minister because it was carried out by different newspapers and media outlets,” she said.
“He was lying based on your statements,” she added.
Frasco then stressed that her office “communicated” with their Indonesian counterparts.
Binay urged Frasco to issue a statement denying the statements made by the Indonesian tourism chief.
For her part, Frasco said she would discuss the matter with the Executive department and the DFA.
The DoT launched the controversial “Love the Philippines” tourism campaign in July, replacing the 11-year-old slogan “It’s More Fun in the Philippines.”
The tourism campaign was heavily criticized due to the use of stock footage of other countries’ tourist spots for the country’s tourism campaign video.