Anonymous Facebook page “Pinoy Ako Blog” asked Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo not to use her picture on the cover photo of the Department of Tourism –Philippines’ official Facebook page.
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The page called out Teo for treating the DOT’s page as her “personal account” when it isn’t, adding hashtag #wagEPAL in the end.
“Puwede po ba ang icover photo niyo ay ang magagandang tanawin sa Pilipinas at hindi ang inyong mukha? Hindi nyo naman personal account yan eh. Suggestion lang po,” Pinoy Ako Blog wrote.
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We checked DOT’s FB cover photo, first posted on February 22, and it indeed bears the photo of a smiling Teo in her pretty pink dress, along with the DOT logo, the slogan “It’s more fun in the Philippines,” and a photo of the General Luna Beach in Siargao Island.
Some netizens seemed to agree with Pinoy Ako Blog too.
One asked if she is one of the tourist attractions in the Philippines.
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Previous cover photos showing off some of the tourist spots in the country also included Teo’s photo.
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Even before Pinoy Ako Blog pointed out the inclusion of Teo’s photo in the cover photos, two other netizens also noticed how much “better” it would be to remove her photo to not make it seem like DOT is promoting her and the Philippines.
Other netizens also pointed out Teo’s seemingly “epal” move.
And here are 3 other cover photos bearing Teo’s picture.
(Note: Pls put these 3 photos as a collage nalang, C! Thanks!)
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We checked the Facebook pages of other departments’ FB pages to see what kind of cover photos they are using and it seemed like the DOT is the only department really fond of using Teo’s photo in the cover photos.
Although the Department of Finance used Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, it was only for one cover photo.
The Department of Agrarian Reform used photos of Agrarian Secretary Rafael Mariano, but in those photos, he was accompanied by farmers, DAR undersecretaries, agrarian reform beneficiaries, and other experts.
However, the other departments’ FB pages did not use photos of their heads, unlike Teo.
Department of Social Welfare and Development:
Department of Agriculture:
Department of Environment and Natural Resources:
Department of Health:
Department of Budget and Management:
Department of Information and Communications Technology:
Department of Transportation:
Department of Labor and Employment:
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