Senators to grill Tourism chief over new slogan

At least two senators on Thursday said they will question Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim over his department's newly-launched and much talked about "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" (Philippines So Beautiful) campaign. Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said Lim should explain to the Senate during its budget deliberation next week how the department came up with its new slogan, which received flak from various sectors. “I wonder what the action plan of the Tourism Department is. I would be propounding questions to the Department of Tourism (DOT) on whose genius idea is it to come up with the slogan that is utilizing our native tongue, Filipino," he said in a statement released on Thursday. Zubiri, and Senators Loren Legarda and Miriam Defensor-Santiago had earlier thumbed down the new DOT slogan, claiming it was unimaginative and not well thought out. On Thursday, Senator Francis Escudero said he also plans to grill Lim over the issue during his confirmation hearing before the Commission on Appointments (CA). "Hindi lang sa budget hearing, marahil pati sa confirmation hearings ng kalihim (I will not only question him during the budget hearing, but also probably during his confirmation hearing)," he said during a weekly forum at the Senate on Thursday. Earlier, Santiago said she plans to massacre more "lightweight" Cabinet members when they face the CA. Escudero, who is also a member of the CA, admitted that there weren't any "heavyweight" officials in the President's cabinet but quickly noted it didn't necessarily mean they were "lightweight." He likewise refused to speculate on whether Lim or any other cabinet member would be subjected to more difficult questioning. "That is a matter for the CA to evaluate and weigh some questions I will be asking and throwing at them will be based on that. Again it will depend on their answer, it will depend on how they will answer these questions," he said. - VVP, GMANews.TV