DTI’s response to my open letter about the Philippine Pavilion

Did you know that the initial name of the Philippines Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai is BAHURA?

I first heard of it 3 years ago in a media event, and I was reminded about it during my meeting with DTI.

Apparently, “bahura” is the Filipino word for reef.

Imagine the backlash if that pushed through? #IAmBahura 🤔

The Meeting 👋

Saturday, October 23, 10:25am – My wife and I sat with DTI Assistant Secretary Rosvi Gaetos in the office of Bangkota for 50 minutes.

She thanked me for the open letter and appreciated how it was written in a constructive manner. Even before we get started, she assured me that a few of the points we raised were already being addressed – like the improvement of dim lighting inside the pavilion and the sound system.

UPDATE: Additional facade spotlights will be installed the first week of November.

After a short intro, she started by sharing with us the background of the project – the complex process it has gone through – from the bidding to the winning architect, up to how the theme was conceptualized and the procurement. She emphasized that the role of DTI in Expo is purely on marketing (which makes her wonder why there is only a marketing rep in our pavilion).

I shared with her how high our hopes were before the Expo, and how that excitement transformed into disappointment after experiencing the actual Bangkota, in which I found no inspiring words to put together.

Instead, I gathered words of tough love hoping they would translate into actions.

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Sharing my suggestions

The purpose of our meeting is not for me to say something about what’s seen on the outside. I believe the architect has a good rationale behind the architecture. Besides, it’s too late anyway to talk about any modifications to it.

Our primary concern is what people experience on the inside. “Sayang po,” I said. I think we’re missing big time. We’re not conveying a clear message. Our pavilion does not educate the visitors about what the Philippines is about – be it in trade, investments, tourism, or aspirations as a country.

Then I went on to elaborate my open letter further. Here are 7 key questions and ideas I brought up to detail that morning:

1. Can we add elements of tourism in the featured video in the big screen?

“The focus is not tourism,” she said.

I understand that our participation in Expo is not around tourism. But that doesn’t mean we have to neglect it completely.

If we aim to develop trade and investment relations with the world, we need to show visitors what we got, and what we are capable of. And that means working collectively with other sectors in the government.

A good emotional video showing the beauty of our country would have been a perfect entry point to more in-depth talks about investment opportunities in the Philippines.

I mean, how else would you introduce the Philippines?

When you say trade, wouldn’t the investors be interested to see what life is like in the Philippines? Wouldn’t they care about the landscape and the culture and the vision? Wouldn’t they want to see what sells to the people?

We have produced tons of inspiring tourism videos over the years. Why can’t we produce one for Expo (perhaps reuse some of them)?

I believe this is the most viable solution we can quickly do.

But she responded by saying, “UAE is not a tourism market for the Philippines.” I asked how did she say so – because when you say UAE, it’s not about the Arabs alone but the hundreds of other nationalities who live here as well. In contrary, UAE could be a lucrative target market.

She didn’t give further reasons why UAE is not on the radar for tourism.

Then I went on to say that tourism doesn’t really have to be within the boundaries of hospitality & travel all the time. There is medical tourism, educational tourism; there’s also business tourism, and so on.

I believe the Expo participation could have been shaped using a more holistic and empathetic approach.

She recognized the suggestions as being nice, but…

“Akala ko ikaw ang gagawa…”

They don’t have materials. It was hard to believe they don’t have these kinds of videos. She added, “I thought you would work on your suggestions for us?”😩

I was surprised by that response, to be honest. But I don’t mind – if only I have the time. The least I could do is to connect the right people who can deliver the work. She reminded me though they have no budget anymore.

Well, creativity doesn’t have to be expensive I believe.

I asked if they even considered looking for these skills locally, knowing we have so much talent here. In fact, many videographers and artists are working in Expo itself.

Fair enough, they initially planned to hire people in UAE, but because of the pandemic, they had to cancel that plan. Makes me wonder why it has to be shelved off knowing it’s not difficult to find them online.

Then she emphasized that Bangkota is about “cultural sustainability.”

I looked up what cultural sustainability means: It has to do with the maintaining of cultural beliefs, practices, heritage conservation, and attempts to answer the question of whether or not any given cultures will exist in the context of the future.

It’s not just about what we have done in the past, but what we are capable of doing in the future.

As with investors, you want to walk them through a journey, an experience, and a vision across sectors. Sadly, we are lacking on these three. 😒

2. Have you considered creating AR/VR experiences?

Augmented Reality is not really new. It’s been here for a decade already so I wonder if we had thought of featuring something like that.

Imagine, with a scan of QR code, we could have featured the many facets of our wonderful country in an entertaining, emotional and educational way.

Sadly, she commented “peke naman yun” – referring to other pavilions using AR and VR technologies to showcase what their country can offer.

For someone like me who designs experiences for AR and VR, I had to educate her about the technology. They are not fake. They are conceptual, mostly useful to present information in a multi-sensory fashion – an experience that visitors would remember.

We could have showcased our ability to use these emerging technologies.

Sino ang gagawa ng ideas?

In the middle of my words, she said I should have had worked with them from the beginning when they were conceptualizing.

“Sana noon mo pa sinabi. Bakit ngayon (ka) lang… We could have worked collaboratively.”

My ideas are not really out of this world. In fact, I share the same observations with many who have visited already. Even kids can tell.

About why I wasn’t involved… I don’t know. I used to get those press releases back in 2019, but suddenly I stopped receiving them. I have no idea what happened. Funny how I am an accredited blogger at Expo and other country pavilions, and not with our own.

3. Can we feature the interactive game on a screen?

I told her, we have a good trivia game on a mobile app, but it’s nowhere to be found in the pavilion. I don’t understand why it is not a multi-platform experience. Why not set up a touch screen where guests can interact with it? Show the score leaderboard with it. It would bring a fun element.

She likes the idea. But she asked me back, “can you suggest where we can find the screens to use for it?”

I can ask around, but I am too busy at work to dedicate ample time to it.

(UPDATE: As of the first week of November, they are installing the game app in iPads for the interior, including additional info on the exhibits.)

4. The DNA could have been better

It would have been better if we feature the outstanding works of OFWs instead of just random names that are only ornamental and not really educating.

There are many OFWs who are working typical jobs during the day but are outstanding in their crafts outside their 9-5. We have excellent artists across the UAE – their works are often recognized in the open. It’s not rocket science to find them.

She repeated that they had planned to connect to these people, but “pandemic” prevented them from engaging more with the local Filipino community.

I asked why many other country pavilions were able to mobilize people and things they needed for Expo despite the pandemic. She said the procurement process in the Philippines is very complicated.

To be fair, we all know that the logistics back home is a problem throughout the pandemic. They had to always comply with IATF’s ever-changing protocols and policies.

She asked me (yet again), to “share with us these stories or where to find these excellent OFWs and their work.”

(Nagkaroon pa ako ng assignment.)

Again, I said, I can look, but I have a very demanding job that I won’t have enough time to do this. Maybe you can ask your partner agencies for some work.

When a company is hiring, they don’t hire only by looking at the name and their nationality. When they hire, they look at competency. Hope we could show more of that – show what our people have done and what they can do.

We here in Dubai want to tell the world that we have global talent and skills. We have hoped for Bangkota to tell that story.

5. Can we let visitors use the elevator?

I couldn’t believe that there is an elevator but it is restricted from guest use.

“Hindi naman kakayanin ang dami ng tao.“

I told her how other pavilions are very hospitable for providing lifts and escalators to their guests, and, we reserve it only for staff?

Definitely, it’s not going to accommodate everyone. But it would be very helpful for PWDs.

We urge her to let the visitors use it.

6. Can we add cooling fans on the way up?

“But this is DUBAI!” “We don’t need fans.” I was shocked to hear those words when I asked if we can have some cooling fans on the way to the roof deck.

Her point was, this is the weather here and we cannot do anything about it. That’s precisely my point. We are in Dubai and that is enough reason to consider showing a bit of care.

Clearly, the design of the pavilion lacks empathy.

7. Can we have guided tour and better tour guides?

I shared how other pavilions are excellently doing it.

According to her, at the time of our meeting, they only have 4 ushers. With the volume of visitors, 4 ushers might not be efficient. They’d be exhausted by the peak hours.

Other points we raised

We also shared quite briefly the following points, some of which were suggestions from those who commented on my open letter:

• OUR PEOPLE AS ENABLERS OF INNOVATION
  • Why not show the works of our scientists who have brought honor to the country (solar power champs, robotics, AI, medical science, etc)?
  • Our winners from the global sporting world, or even the beautiful causes our Miss Universe beauty queens are into?

Her response: We don’t have the materials.

• MORE MEANINGFUL VIDEO CONTENT
  • If we cannot replace the dancing video, can we at least show more videos on rotation like our enticing and compelling cultural videos (featuring the likes of Apo Whang-od)?
  • Can we produce a timelapse video showing the country in a holistic fashion?

Her response: Who will make the videos?

• MORE PHILIPPINE-THEMED
  • Can we at least enhance the outdoors and roofdeck to have a ‘fiesta’ feel?
  • Can we show a jeepney at the entrance?
  • Can we have piñata or palosebo for kids?
  • Can we showcase live traditional dances like Tinikling?
  • Maybe the sound of a soaring Philippine eagle in surround would be good.

Her response: No. I’m not keen on having tourism. It’s hard to bring in materials anymore because of the stringent procurement processes.

• MORE INTERACTIVE
  • Can we have a corner with green screen wherein visitors can choose from beautiful Philippine landscape as their background, and take their photos or videos in it.
  • Can we feature the amazing Philippine sceneries as a gallery? Add a QR code on them and let visitors download and use them as Zoom virtual backgrounds.
  • How about a virtual reality experience?
  • Can we have a visually powerful collage on the way up to the roofdeck – probably showing the history and heritage in a more visual way?

Her response: Who will do it? In which part of the pavilion can we set these up?

(UPDATE [as of Nov 1]: Before the end of this month, the team hopes to have all these additional features in place.  Everything is a work in progress, and Bangkota is one of many pavilions (if not all) that constantly work on actionable improvements as the Expo goes along.)

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Benchmarking other pavilions

You may have noticed I keep mentioning “other pavilions” repeatedly. It’s not just merely to compare. It’s more like benchmarking or landscape assessment.

I suggested that the Bangkota team get out of their office quite more often, roam around the Expo to benchmark what other pavilions are doing. There is always something we can build up on.

“Akala ko ikaw ang gagawa?”

After hearing these words from her multiple times, I told her that my purpose when I wrote the open letter was not to offer my services for a fee. Just like any esteemed organization, I expect that the PH Pavilion team can mobilize to find the right people who could provide the services I mentioned above. Between them and myself, they have the better means.

I’d be honest, it took me a while to write this blog because I felt a bit discouraged with these words. This “naisip mo, gawin mo” mentality is one of the reasons why we do not progress well as a nation. It kills ideation even before it starts. It’s anticlimactic, anti-productive, and anti-progressive.

“Good things” are coming, though

After we talked about the issues, she shared the “good things” in the pipeline that people can look forward to, like:

• They’re thinking of an open mic type of performances at the Imaginarium (the pathway towards the roof deck)
• President Duterte is visiting in February
• Pinoy food festival is on the calendar
• More activities being planned for the Philippine National Day celebration in February

How the meeting ended

From “…tingnan MO kung ano magagawa MO,” the conversation changed into “…tingnan NATIN kung ano magagawa NATIN” towards the end.

She ended our meeting by saying her team will look at those actionable items and those that won’t have to go through a complicated procurement. “But no promises.“

She’s also counting on me to bring the people who could help with the video content at least.

Doing my part, I said I will try to find people within my small network. (So, if you are a videographer or an artist, send me a message.)

I asked her though… if I fail to find people because of my very limited time, would you take the initiative to move?

She said, they couldn’t do much, and they don’t have the budget anymore.

We thanked her again for inviting us to a dialog. She was listening attentively to every word we say. She did not stop us from saying anything. It was very open. Even though we were not bearers of pleasant feedback, she was gentle in talking to us.

She offered us Halo-halo on our way out but we had to decline politely because we already have set our lunch plans.

Why I make a big fuss about the pavilion?

Expo is dubbed as the world’s greatest show. Each and every local and expat is talking about their home country’s participation in it. Expats pride themselves on the quality of pavilions put up.

It’s a big deal for us because millions of guests would visit and would take away an understanding of the country. Unfortunately, there’s not much value to take away from our pavilion.

Look at Hungary, Gabon, and even Yemen…

I may have felt discouraged but I want to stay hopeful. After all, it’s not how you started, it’s how you finish.

We still have time.