Pinagsabihan matapos sabunin ni Senador Loren Legarda ang Department of Tourism (DOT) na maging mapagmatyag sa kanilang advertisement kumalat ang palpak at magling poster ng ‘Banaue Rice Terraces in Benguet’ na naging viral sa social media.
Ipinaalala ito ni Legardad sa ginanap na pagdinig ng Senate finance subcommittee sa badyet ng Department of Tourism t attached agencies na aabot sa P3.394 billion para sa susunod na taon.
“Let’s be very, very careful with accuracy. Otherwise, we’re marketing the wrong provinces…Be careful…It really triggers me kapag mga mali. Stupidities,” ayon kay Legarda.
Sinabi ni Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco na pawang “most unfortunate oversight,” ang pagkakamali kaya’t tiniyak sa Senate panel na kanila nang tinanggal ang maling poster.
“This was the DOT branding unit which outsourced the placement of the erroneous advertorial material. When the matter was brought to our attention, the erroneous material was taken down in the immediate and a comprehensive sweep of all materials in the thousands all over the world was conducted,” ayon kay Frasco.
Ipinaliwanag ni Legarda na kapag may pagkakamali ang isang advertising agency sumasalamin ito kay Frasco at buong gobyerno.
“Everybody makes mistakes, but they should be more careful and they should not waste, not just the wastage of gov’t resources but also the embarrassment. It is unfair to the secretary, she faces the world. It’s unfair to us, senators, we face the public,” giit niya.
“It’s not a vice. It’s not a luxury. It’s a basic need to be accurate and factual. We owe it to our public,” dagdag niya.
Tiniyak naman ni DOT Assistant Secretary Gissela Marie Quisimbing, na idaaan sa masusing pag-aaral at pagsusuri ang lahat ng advertisements ng ahensiya sa simula hanggang matapos.
Dahil dito, inatasan ni Legarda ang DOT na magsumite ng vetting process sa Senado. Ernie Reyes