The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Sunday said it will probe the alleged use of non-original shots of locations in the newly-released ‘Love the Philippines’ tourism promotional video.
“The DOT is currently conducting an exhaustive investigation to determine the veracity of, and to gather the full faculty of facts on, these allegations,” it said in a statement.
The statement was released after netizen Renz Nathaniel claimed that some of the landscapes shown in the promo video were stock footage and not originally filmed in the Philippines.
Nathaniel said some of the videos were shot in the countries of Indonesia, Thailand, and Dubai.
THIS IS ALARMING!🇵🇭
— Renz Nathaniel (@nathaniel_renz) July 1, 2023
The DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM - PHILIPPINES has shamelessly squandered a whopping P50M to flaunt foreign destinations (STOCK VIDEOS) instead of showcasing our own stunning scenes while proudly parading their new slogan "#LovethePhilippines." We deserve better! >>> pic.twitter.com/TuW8WwF420
But the tourism department said that it had repeatedly sought confirmation from DDB Philippines, the contracted agency that prepared and published the promo video, on the originality and ownership of all materials.
“In ALL these occasions, DDB repeatedly assured the DOT that the originality and ownership of all materials are in order,” it added.
The DOT said it will not hesitate to take necessary action and hold the party accountable in order “to protect the interest of the country.”
It assured that no public funds were released for the payment of the promotional video.
The ‘Love the Philippines' tourism campaign video has been removed on DOT’s official YouTube account and Facebook page, as of this writing.
But the video can be accessed in the official YouTube channels of DOT's Regional offices.
