Is it more fun in the Philippines?

The new campaign slogan of the Department of Tourism which was launched last week instantly earned diverse feedback from both sides that easily proliferated in the internet world over the weekend.

Indeed, Secretary Mon Jimenez was right when he said social media would play a big part in the campaign, being a campaign of the people, more than anything.

The slogan was simple: “It’s more fun in the Philippines”. That’s it.

Some don’t find it catchy. I believe otherwise. Less is more, we say. The new slogan is, however simple it is, encompasses all facets of what the Philippines is really all about.

And it is flexible. Some netizens have even parodied the slogan and came up with odd and funny versions like “Social Climbing-it’s more fun in the Philippines”, or “kwek-kwek-it’s more fun in the Philippines.”

True enough, the Philippines is a depository of anything.

Our colorful history brought us to a culture that emanated from various cultures, making it solely ours- unique in every way. We have been colonized, of course. Our aborigines have traded with different nationalities, not only did they trade products but values and traits.

In the more recent past, the Filipino has been most adaptable to all races. There could be two reasons. One, we have a lot of foreign workers who of course adapt the culture of the countries they work for. This diaspora of our race has reached all continents. Some of them come back after years. Some next generation Pinoys who were born and raised abroad come back as a neo-Filipino.

Second, we are a welcoming country. Anyone can come here, marry a Filipino, live and make business.

We don’t even know what a real Filipino looks like! Everyone is a mix.

Now, that makes it more fun in the Philippines.

Who celebrates Fiestas more than us? Who has the most number of festivals here and there? Whose is the longest Christmas?

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River which took a spot as one of new Seven Wonders of Nature is a clear manifestation of how capable the Philippines is in terms of tourism,  aside from our incredible voting power, i.e. voting People’s Choice in global pageants.

Texting? It’s more fun in the Philippines! Definitely. We have even created a text lingo of our own, the infamous Jejemon fad.

And what country would promulgate an “Epal Bill” against old school political patronage? Good thing a Mirriam Defensor- Santiago is a Filipina.

Speaking of whom, she has been the first Asian to be selected as judge at the International Criminal Court for a tenure of nine years. Kudos to the iron woman of the senate. Sadly, we will lose to the world one of the few credible faces in the government.

It’s more fun in PH because we make it so. The Filipino is our best resource and whether or not we are better than anybody else in the world, the fact shall stand still – we are a great people.