Most Pinoys view gays, lesbians as trustworthy, survey says

A SURVEY conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) indicated that 8 in 10 Filipinos see gays and lesbians as “trustworthy.”

SWS said of the 1,200 surveyed, 79% agreed with the statement that “gays or lesbians are just as trustworthy as any other Filipino.”

The survey also said 73% believe that “gays or lesbians have contributed a lot” to society’s progress. SWS noted that this is an improvement from nearly a decade ago.

In a 2013 SWS poll, 67% of Filipinos noted that gays and lesbians were trustworthy, while 18% said otherwise, the public pollster said.

Reyna Valmores, the chairperson of LGBTQIA+ organization Bahaghari Philippines, quoted by ABS-CBN News, said it is “positive” to see that many Filipinos find gays and lesbians as trustworthy.

SWS said the 2023 nationwide poll, conducted from March 26 to 29, 2023, also revealed that 40% wanted to change their gay or lesbian family members to become straight men or women. And some 43% considered acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) as a “sickness of gays and lesbians,” while 26 percent said being gay or lesbian is “contagious.”

Valmores however said the notion that AIDS is a sickness of gays is “not correct.”

Valmores described the negative views as a reflection of the reality that many members of the LGBTQIA+ community are still discriminated against and face abuse and violence, ABS-CBN News said.

“Therefore, we need to move forward when it comes to gender education and have a bill that will protect all Filipinos against discrimination: the SOGIE Equality Bill,” Valmores sais.

A separate SWS survey showed that a “record high” 65 percent of Filipinos find Muslims trustworthy.

OLD folks used to describe unfortunate happenings as “signos,” literally, “signs.” enticed many, the rest of Filipinos included.

“Masamang pangitain”, my lola from Malolos used to say in Tagalog.

“Omen,” the Senate tourism committee chair, Sen. Nancy Binay, pronounced after the fiasco that accompanied the launch of LOVE the Philippines by our tourism department on its 50th anniversary celebration.

And that is how I would view the campaign that started on the wrong foot.

I had high hopes for Secretary Christine Frasco when she was announced to be PFRM Jr.’s secretary for an agency I was part of at the turn of the century, having been appointed to head the Philippine Tourism Authority (now TIEZA) on June 30, 1998 till November 3, 2000, concurrent with being the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs by then President Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

High hopes not because she is the daughter of an esteemed and highly accomplished provincial governor, my good friend Gwen Garcia of Cebu, but because tourism success is best achieved by LGUs working hand-in-hand with initiatives of the national government.

In short, the DOT sets the tone in terms of brand marketing and product planning, but the LGUs must follow through with proper implementation. That has been the recurring theme of all my articles on tourism in this space.

Secretary Frasco, having been a mayor of Liloan in Cebu, having been sired in the atmosphere of a political family which has done wonders for the province, was equipped with both experience and gravitas to get LGU officials not to “toe the line,” but in a positive note, to cooperate and be meaningful partners in promoting tourism in the country.

Ours is a country replete with examples of how bad local governance harms tourism, and I need not cite examples here.

But Cebu is one example of how good local governance, sometimes regardless of the national government, can accomplish so much for tourism.

From the perspective of planning, DoT should not be all things to all of the Philippines.

From the perspective of targeting, DoT should focus on the low-hanging fruits, nearby countries where accessibility is easier, and then differentiate the product/s amid the fierce regional competition. There is no need to rush.

Rush is perhaps the best example of how things went awry.

What DDB intended to be a “mood” video, not a finished product, and they justified as reason for using foreign stock footage, was rushed to be able to present something to the tourism publics one year after the new PFRM Jr. administration came into being.

Premature exposure and hasty uploading led to the fiasco.

Question: did the client (DoT) not have representatives on each stage of the product development?

If they did not, that should explain DDB’s use of foreign footages, because actual shoot and production was yet to start.

If they did, then whoever was their client representative was equally at fault as DDB’s assigned brand manager.

And so when foreign stock footages were identified by eagle-eyed social media observers and bloggers, the message of LOVE was drowned, and like the Titan submersible curious about the Titanic, it cannot float again.

So, back to the drawing board, folks.

Improve the product first, and focus on the immediate doables.

Study the nearby markets; enhance what they want; and present attractions that truly attract these particular country targets.

Stop dreaming that Caucasian travelers will flock to us soon.

Stop launching promos in London or Paris or even New York. Those are not low-hanging fruits, and balikbayans will always come back because they still LOVE their origins and their families back home.

Sun and sand may attract cold-weary Koreans and other northern Asian people, great.