A seminar on “Public Diplomacy” was conducted last August 28, 2010 to help students understand how different government agencies act on certain issues related to the promotion of countries and protection of citizens. The Assistant Secretary of the Department of Tourism, Domingo Enerio became the speaker for that day. First, he gave an introduction of his experience while working in Japan in 1991 because he believes that “experience is the best teacher”. Although at first, he has to undergone adjustments in order to relate well with the nationals in Japan. “Working in the Department of Tourism, you get the chance to experience diplomacy”, he said.
He also encouraged everyone to analyze the situation that happened in the Philippines last August 23, 2010 since the Philippine government and agencies consider the incident as another challenge for the Philippines in promotion of friendly relations with other countries most especially to Hong Kong. Also, he would like the students to be more open-minded; because as a future diplomat, it is our duty to defend our country, to convince other people to invest in our country and to find better ways on how we can help the Philippines to develop. He also stated that “no matter how negative your country is, you always have to defend it because every country has its own beauty”. Moreover, he provided the students some of the activities of the DOT in line with Public Diplomacy (familiarization trip, rebranding and internet campaign) to sustain growth in tourist arrivals and investments, to create opportunities for increased local employment and to create new tourism products and services.
After 30 minutes, we had an open forum. The 1st question was raised by Katrina Gonzalez; “What are the mechanisms that the DOT would be taking to prove to others that the Philippines is a safe country to visit?” and this is how he answered it “We need to do something to counter this incident. We want to be aggressive but we don’t want the people to see us too aggressive. We need to show to our neighbors that we are sorry for what happened. We have to accept the blame. We’re thinking about “full ads in Hong Kong”. But the Hon Kong said, “Don’t do that yet!” Next plan is; plan of high level of delegation to go over to Hong Kong to express our sympathy. But the HK said, “Don’t come if you don’t have answers yet”. We have to be careful this time with our decisions and actions.
He was able to answer all the questions and I can say that, “he is a good speaker”, because he was he successfully laid down all the information that a future diplomat has to know. The most unforgettable statement he said was “YOU ARE THE NO. 1 AMBASSADOR OF YOUR COUNTRY”.
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