THOSE who recently called for the resignation of Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco over the shambles in the promotional video of the Department of Tourism (DOT) should hold their horses.

Why sack Frasco when there were other DOT officials who were more responsible for the inclusion of footages that were not supposed to be in the clip.

Usually, projects are conceptualized and implemented by the aides of a Department Secretary who are usually the undersecretaries. Undersecretaries are the workhorses and alter egos of Department heads. These bosses trust their undersecretaries because of their competence.

But in the case of DOT, it’s quite obvious that the undersecretaries failed their chief. Before the call for the resignation of Frasco, her undersecretaries in charge of the project should have taken the blame for the disaster and filed voluntary resignation.

I’m not sure if any of Frasco’s aides involved in the controversial project tried to protect her by offering to resign instead of letting the poor Secetary fend for herself.

At any rate, the DOT will continue to use the “Love the Philippines” slogan in attracting both foreign and local tourists to travel around the country amid the termination of its contract with the advertising agency behind the campaign.

During the 2022 Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts and Tourism Statistics Dissemination Forum in Pasay City recently, Frasco delivered her first public speech days after issues on the new tourism campaign video produced surfaced online.

Frasco’s speech mostly touched on the tourism sector’s achievements over the past year, ending it with the message, “Love the Philippines.”

“Having come out of the pandemic, indeed the greatest threat to humanity, we have survived, we have thrived, and we continue in the journey towards recovery and transformation. We are the Philippines. We have gone through so much as a nation,” she said.

“We possess the strength of spirit to continue to prevail and to overcome. The world has told us that there is so much to love about our country. And I’m fully confident that if all of us look into the depths of our heart, we will find in each and every one of our fellow Filipinos that burning pride of place for the Philippines and the deep love of country that will propel the recovery of Philippine tourism and allow our country to claim its position as Asia’s tourism powerhouse.”

When asked to clarify if the agency would still use the slogan, Frasco made an apparent reference to her remarks, saying “it was evident.”

The DOT has announced it would terminate its contract with DDB Philippines after it was discovered that the agency used stock footage shot abroad in the new tourism campaign video.

The advertising firm publicly apologized, saying it is taking full responsibility for the non-original materials used in the now-deleted video.

Citing initial meetings before the launch, the DOT said DDB had repeatedly assured them “that the originality and ownership of all materials are in order.

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