‘Luh!’ the Philippines
The generation of short messaging service (SMS) and, after that, instant messaging online birthed a new dictionary. As the text capital of the world, the Philippines was its chief wordsmith.
Pre-“unli text,” vowels were dropped, alphas were exchanged for numerics, and emotion was expressed through parentheticals and diacritics. Indeed, we need not look further than what is now quotidian phrase, regardless of (con)text: “Wer na Ü, d2 na me.” Words and phrases compressed and stripped to the bare bones, all in the pursuit of fitting a message within the confines of the standard 160-character SMS text limit.
Among the more recent linguistic concoctions is “Luh,” an informal expression employed to convey incredulity. It is shorthand for “hala” or “hala ka!”
Last week, the Department of Tourism (DOT) bid goodbye to its longtime tourism slogan, “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” and introdutced its new tourism campaign: “Love the Philippines.” The new slogan cost about P49 million to produce. That’s P2.7 million per letter and, intriguingly, just P1 million short of Republic Act No. 7080’s (the anti-plunder law) P50 million threshold. Coincidence? Hmm …
Love is no stranger to our nation. The Philippine Constitution proudly claims the distinction of being the only constitution in the world to enshrine the word “love” within its provisions. The preamble of the 1987 Constitution declares that “We, the sovereign Filipino,” commit ourselves to a “rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace.” Similarly, earlier this year, newly minted lawyers pledged their allegiance under a revised lawyer’s oath that echoes the love-laden recital of the preamble.
There is no doubt in my mind: The Philippines is a country infatuated with love.
However, the campaign’s lofty promise came to an abrupt halt when viewers noticed that its promotional video, purportedly showcasing the Philippines’ vast and unparalleled landscapes, featured visuals from places far and wide and not our own. Luh! Nabuking. It contained sceneries from neighboring Thailand and Indonesia, to distant realms in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.
The DOT earlier explained that the slogan shift seeks to promote the Philippines for more than just fun and games. But given the recent debacle, perhaps DOT should pivot back to “It’s More Fun in the Philippines,” because clearly its mandate is a joke for them. And perhaps, indeed, they should. Sen. Nancy Binay—who finished at the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor of Science in Tourism and now chairs the Senate tourism committee—makes a strong but practical point in her recommendation to the DOT to revert to the old slogan. In the words of Thomas Bertram Lance: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
While, no doubt, the DOT bungled this multimillion peso project, let’s resist reaching for our papal tiaras. After all, not all problems are made equal and I’m no fan of nitpicking a la holier-than-thou.
Never mind the missing comma or the plagiarism charge against DDB Group Philippines. Nay! The issues at hand transcends the propriety of punctuation or intellectual property. I hone in on one fundamental concern: identity.I ask: What defines a Filipino?
I’ve heard many answers. We’ve been described to be freedom-loving people. But the idea of freedom is something we were simply assimilated into by United States colonizers. We are also said to be god-fearing people. Yet that God to which we refer is, likewise, a colonial transplant. A gift from the demons in our history. Indeed, our country’s very name pays homage to Prince Philip of Spain—a man who had never even set foot on our island.
The essence of being Filipino escapes strict definition, and the DOT’s video underscores its own ambiguous understanding of our nation. However, their message remains clear: We are a country largely defined by love. And in that, I find no disagreement.
You see, the true problem with the slogan isn’t the message it sends, but to its intended recipient. “Love” is not an experience solely reserved for visiting foreigners to enjoy, but for us Filipinos to endure. Not some shiny new thing to be reveled, but a sentiment to be remembered.
Some say that the Philippines is a country difficult to love. Perhaps, in this way, the slogan’s success lies in its failure. For it is in times like these—and indeed there are so many—that the DOT’s message is needed most.
Love the Philippines, my friend. Even when it’s hard.
—————-
