(DISCLAIMER: This post does not represent the opinions of my employer, the Department of Tourism, or the agency behind the “It’s More Fun In The Philippines” campaign.)

I don’t want to chalk it up – yet – to an increasingly cynical Filipino, or for that matter a point of view that perpetuates and fosters cynicism. After all, one is free to criticize, and one is free to disagree. Yet it also pays, I believe, to criticize and disagree with the right things, and to lend perspective in the right way.

For a government agency whose troubles with everything from budget to copyright have been well within the field of vision of the public eye, it’s hard to pull off anything without some degree of criticism. And it goes without saying that it should be: as far as tourism goes, we should get it right. But part of getting it right means making it work. The exercise of making the national tourism slogan is not a matter of advertising alone, but a matter of pulling together to stand by one national idea. Getting it right, and making it work.

It’s easy to see why people don’t like the new tourism slogan. It’s wordy, it’s a bit too long, the word “fun” is a bit arbitrary. Our notion of the “national slogan” has been steeped in the idea of “Wow, Philippines” for too long that indeed, we do well to resist that change. “It’s more fun in the Philippines” is a leap from that: it’s different. What’s “hardworking” for some may be “overworked” for others. Some of us nitpick over details like colors or fonts or messaging, or that a 1951 ad from Switzerland looks all too familiar.

I say, though, let’s get it right. And as a people, let’s make it work.

Former Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin – who recently gained some measure of infamy for his “Teditorial” on NAIA, branding bloggers who criticized the airport as “homeless gays” with a not-so-subtle dig with “kneepads in restrooms” – is at it again.

This time, Mr. Locsin calls Inquirer’s tribute to the victims of the Ampatuan Massacre “just plain baduy.”  Without the homophobic innuendo, Locsin rambles on with contrarian pontifications criticizing the pictures of the columnists: kesyo the columnists who closed their eyes are in the act of forgetting, kesyo the columnists should open their eyes, kesyo the stunt was baduy, etc.  It’s as if Mr. Locsin held the monopoly of knowledge in meaning, in semiotics, in expression – whether artistic or journalistic – and that the schoolyard pejorative should make for a good summation.

While we’re no strangers to editorial segments in newscasts – the late Frankie Evangelista excelled at that – I guess we can all agree that editorializing has its functions as well as its limits.  For the lack of a disclaimer, as well as a lack of prudence in editing the talking-head piece, the caricature of Locsin has not only painted itself as an ultra-conservative elitist who does not hesitate to betray deep-seated homophobia, but now it also paints a caricature of a cantankerous nitpicker who forgets the importance and relevance of symbols and metaphors.

This, a week after the commemoration of the second year of the Ampatuan Massacre.  The other, a few days shy of Pride Day.

The town is called Ampatuan, Maguindanao.  In that town, on November 23, 2009, 58 innocent civilians, journalists, lawyers, aides, supporters, and motorists were unceremoniously buried in mass graves after being murdered, massacred, and mutilated by gun-toting animals.  Two years later, justice remains elusive, slow, delayed… and perhaps even denied.

We remember not because of the gruesome details or that because it can happen to us.  We remember because it is right and proper and bold for us to remember.  We remember because two years later, no one has paid the price.  We remember because of so many people fighting for justice in a world filled with news items covering murdered celebrities and murdered innuendoes.  We remember because as far as the pursuit of justice is concerned, we have yet to be there.

Today is Blog Action Day to remember the Ampatuan Massacre.