Frasco Still Has Marcos’ Trust Despite Video Fiasco

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco is keeping her post despite the new tourism campaign mess, as she continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of President Marcos.

In a media interview on Friday, July 7, Marcos said Frasco immediately acted on the issue by terminating the Department of Tourism (DOT)’s contract with ad agency Doyle, Dane and Bernbach (DDB) Philippines.

DDB came under fire after it used stock footage from tourist destinations abroad for the audiovisual presentation of the new tourism campaign, “Love the Philippines,” which was launched on June 27.

“Yes, absolutely. No question,” Marcos responded when asked whether Frasco still enjoyed his trust and confidence. The President said he spoke with the secretary regarding the issue.

“I saw that she acted swiftly. She terminated the contracts that were in question. She has also since then put under review all of the other contracts that were in the pipeline,” Marcos said.

“I think she has it under control, she knows what to do, what she has done so far inspires confidence that she will fix the problem and that the campaign of ‘Love the Philippines’ will be as successful as we hope for it to be,” he said.

Long-term

Known for changing its branding per administration, the DOT should consider coming up with a national tourism campaign that is “long-term,” one of its former secretaries said.

“Maybe it is important that… when we do this now, we should really look at something long-term, that we look at it like nobody’s going to change it,” said Mina Gabor, DOT secretary from 1996 to 1998 during the presidency of Fidel Ramos.

Speaking to “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News, Gabor recalled how her “bring home a friend” program could have inspired the “Bisita Be My Guest” program that en-courages overseas Filipinos to bring to the country their foreign friends in exchange for prizes introduced by Frasco.

“When they launched ‘Bisita Be My Guest,’ Secretary Frasco was very thankful we had the ‘bring home a friend’ program, and what she did was realign the program such that they are able to connect with overseas Filipinos,” she said.

The DOT has been known for tourism campaigns like Gabor’s “Islands Philippines,” “Wow Philippines” by former senator Richard Gordon, “Experience the Philippines” by Wanda Teo and “It’s more fun in the Philippines” by the late Ramon Jimenez and “refreshed” during the term of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

The Philippine STAR learned that the DOT under Frasco is planning to keep the “Love the Philippines” campaign even if the contract with DDB Philippines that created it was reportedly terminated. – With additional reports from Ghio Ong and Sheila Crisostomo