Tourism promotion catchline says: “We give the world our best. The Philippines”
That's a slogan that cannot be more honest.
Our best medical professionals are all over the world. Our best craftsmen are in other countries. Our best engineers are building cities of other countries. Our best artists are making it in foreign lands.
Most of the best in our countries are making names somewhere else.
So, who are left to make our country a better place: the politicians and their business partners, and us, abused consumers and deceived voters?
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As tourism comes on, of course we have the best beaches.
From our beaches, we have stories to tell as tourists’ shift in preference to
“substantive, immersive, and cultural authentic experiences where they have opportunities to know the culture of the place they are visiting,” as explained by Department of Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Franco.
Better start this education on Filipinos who are so confused of our culture. A confusion so deep that even our educators are lost on how to start planting love for the country.
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Using media in promotion is sometimes tricky. You heard of the story of a parish somewhere in the south that was raising funds to improve their church?
Hearing that horse racing makes money for the winner, he decided to buy a racehorse. Cost of racehorses was prohibitive that he settled for a donkey instead.
He entered it in a race and a miracle happened. Racing against horses, the donkey came in third.
The following day’s news was : “Priest’s Ass Shows”. Happy with the result, the priest entered the donkey in another race. This time, a bigger miracle, it won.
The next day, papers headlined:
“Priests Ass Out in Front”
The bishop, after reading the papers, got mad and ordered the priest to stop joining the race. The next day's newspaper headlines: “Bishop Scratches Priest’s Ass”.
The bishop got more upset and told the priest to get rid of the donkey. The priest gives the animal to a nun who needed funds to repair the convent. Media got wind of this, headlined:
“Nun has Best Ass in town.”
Horrified, the bishop ordered the nun to get rid of the donkey. The nun sold it to a farmer for P1,000.00. The newspapers headlined:
“Nun Peddles Ass for P1K.”
Reading this head, the bishop died of a heart attack. Then the naughty local paper headlined:
“Nun’s Ass Kills Bishop.”
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In the south, where I grew up, kids’ games are almost always rough. It is no surprise, then, that many of the country’s great boxers are from the south.
In those days, we get inspiration from stories of our elders then. I remember a distant uncle boasting of his days in the ring.
“In one fight, he described, the bell sounded to start the round. We met at the center of the ring, did some foot work. Then my opponent threw a right cross, followed by a left cross.”
“Then, what happened after?” we asked.
“Then came the Red Cross,” he answered.
Not unlike our present lowly workers, the right cross is the low salary. The left cross is the high cost of living. But where is the Red Cross?