MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Philippine Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco, commenting on the promo video fiasco, has said that not a single peso has been paid to DBB and that the contract with the ad agency has been cancelled. Yet, the Department of Tourism continues to use the controversial slogan.

Well, it’s payback time.

Unconfirmed reports reaching The Adobo Chronicles have revealed that DBB is suing DOT for estafa. A DBB spokesperson said that ownership of the slogan remains the the ad agency, precisely because it has not been paid for its work. “This is pure and simple theft of intellectual property,” he said.

Today, DBB will file estafa charges against DOT at an undisclosed local Regional Trial Court. The agency is also seeking a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop DOT from using the botched campaign slogan.

This is a developing story.

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Baguio City) – The Department of Tourism (DOT) is boasting of its launch of the hop-on, hop-off bus tours (HOHO) for tourists in Makati and Manila, saying it’s the first of its kind in the Philippines.

But that is farthest from the truth.

Baguio City has launched the HOHO bus tours since 2022 as a response by the local government to traffic woes exacerbated by tourists driving their private vehicles when visiting the Summer Capital of the Philippines.

Our verdict: DOT’s PR stunt on HOHO is misleading!

Once in a while, we at The Adobo Chronicles get dead serious. This is one of those times…

An Open Letter to Christina Garcia-Frasco

We understand how difficult or even impossible it is to pull back on a multi-million tourism campaign that has already been formally launched.

Missteps were committed not just on the part of the ad agency but the Department of Tourism as well.

It is unfortunate that the well-meaning campaign has become the object of jokes and memes among Filipinos. The international media has taken notice and the coverage of this fiasco has tainted the campaign.

We believe that the best way to move on is for DOT to stop defending itself and passing the blame on the ad agency.

A simple tweak will do the trick!

Why not use the old tourism slogan “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” as a tagline to the primary slogan, “Love The Philippines?”

Filipinos are known to be a very resilient people, and we suppose that includes the people at DOT.

We stumbled. Let’s get up and move on.

May we offer a mock-up of what the campaign can look like?

… and no public funds were used to come up with this suggested promo poster.

Yours truly,

The Adobo Chronicles