Palace: Romano’s resignation over slogan fiasco honorable

Any official who becomes a "liability" to the government should follow the example of Vicente "Enteng" Romano, who took responsibility for the "Pilipinas kay Ganda" fiasco and resigned as tourism undersecretary, Malacanang said Wednesday. At a press conference, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Romano's decision to resign after taking responsibility for the much-maligned tourism campaign slogan was an "honorable gesture" that President Benigno Aquino III appreciated. "We are all serving at the pleasure of the President. We pass in his trust and confidence and I think it behooves any Cabinet official and any government official to see that if he has become a liability then he should do the honorable thing as what [former] Usec. Romano did," said Lacierda. Lacierda, however, said the Palace is not asking for the resignation of public officials who may have put the Aquino administration in bad light, saying that would be their "personal decision." He also defended Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim, who is being heavily criticized for the "Pilipinas kay Ganda" slogan and logo. Critics have questioned why the slogan was in Tagalog when it's target market were mostly foreign tourists. There were also criticisms on the logo, which bore resemblance to the "Polska" tourism campaign logo of Poland.

The campaign's website, beautifulpilipinas.com, was taken down soon after it went public because a similarly-worded site, beautifulfilipinas.com, redirects web users to a pornography site. Lacierda said some quarters who were against Lim's appointment early on because he favors liberalizing the government's aviation policy are using the "Pilipinas kay Ganda" fiasco to pounce on him. "There are some sectors in the tourism industry who are against Sec. Lim from the very beginning. They are against his views on the liberalized air policies, open skies, and this is just a convenient excuse for them to use this issue against Sec. Lim," he said. Lacierda said Lim is also addressing the issue and is set to meet with tourism stakeholders in the Tourism Congress on Friday. "The accusation that he’s not sensitive to the concerns of the stakeholders in the tourism industry is entirely inaccurate," he said. Lacierda pointed out that Lim should not be blamed for the failed campaign as Romano had already owned up to it in his resignation letter. Lacierda said Malacanang is pleased with the public's generally positive reaction to Romano's resignation. When Romano announced his resignation Tuesday night, social networking sites like Twitter were abuzz with praises for Romano's move, which netizens said showed delicadeza. "It shows that this administration has the standards required of each public official—that of decency, that of accountability," said the Palace spokesman. Aquino has already instructed the Department of Tourism (DOT) to come up with a new campaign slogan and logo subject to consultations and the conduct of a focus group discussion. - KBK, GMANews.TV