Like, dislike the Philippines

While a lot of Filipinos had fun lampooning the government’s “It’s more fun in the Philippines” tourism slogan, many are certainly not laughing at a video made by a foreigner that’s making the rounds of online media.

The video titled “20 reasons why I dislike the Philippines” was made by an American named Jimmy who supposedly lived and worked in Cebu for the past three and a half years.

Its polar opposite was the video “20 reasons why I like the Philippines” that starred two American tourists traipsing around the country, drinking and otherwise sampling the local cuisine and life in the country.

As of latest count, there were more than 330,000 views of the “dislike” video rather than the “like” video on YouTube.

Since there are already so many tourism videos featuring Filipino-Americans who sing praises about the country’s scenic beauty and friendly people, Jimmy’s video is an eye-opener.

The fact that he recorded his complaints in Cebu City, specifically at the heart of the city somewhere near Fuente Osmeña, should give pause to Cebu officials aggressively pursuing tourism in this part of the country.

The American’s reasons ranged from the trivial—table napkins, body checking, screeching roosters, wrapping gum—to the valid—comfort rooms that are anything but comfortable, a trash can placed over a man hole, unpredictable traffic, unfinished buildings, lazy, meandering security guards, even unsanitary street food.

To be sure, there are a lot of hits and more dislikes than likes on Jimmy’s video and there were reports that the video was scrapped from YouTube.

Jimmy did qualify his “dislikes” with the statement that he loved some things about the Philippines, though in the same breath he also complained about the country’s food.

Jimmy may be laughing his heart out at all the attention that his video has drawn, much of which were violent reactions.

Will Cebu officials take any action or issue statements about this disturbance? They do so at peril of dignifying Jimmy’s accusations.

The video comes on the heels of the controversy over Canadian actor Taylor Kitsch’s statement in a TV talk show about how customs agents tried to extort money from him. The show host suggested this was the Ninoy Aquino International airport. (The extortion incident actually happened in Indonesia. Kitsch got too excited and didn’t correct the host’s wrong info.)

While Filipinos can unleash hell on Jimmy in many different ways, the complaints of these foreigners are no less valid and should serve notice that enormous work needs to be done to improve the quality of life in the country, and make it truly fun to visit and stay, for tourists as well as countrymen.