‘Welcome to the Philppines!’ Red faces over misspelt banners

Philppines
“Welcome to the Philppines!” One of the misspelt banners put up, and then removed, today

Tarpaulin banners welcoming Asean delegates to the Philippines misspelt the name of the country as “Philppines”.

The message read: “WELCOME to the Philppines! ASEAN Delegates.”

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The signs were put up around Metro Manila today (Friday, November 10) but later taken down after the error was spotted.

Despite their short-lived appearance, several had already been vandalised by anti-President Trump protestors.

In a press briefing, Communications Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan said the Department of the Interior and Local Government-National Capital Region (DILG-NCR) had owned up to the error.

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“The DILG-NCR already issued a statement that clarified that it was issued by them, it was posted by them and they already took them down and that they are replacing those posters with the correct spelling of the country, the Philppines,” he said.

The department’s statement read: “The DILG-NCR is in the process of removing the tarpaulins. We humbly extend our apology to the public for this oversight. We would also like to thank our netizens for calling our attention to the matter.”

The replacement of the tarpaulins came just in time for the arrival of world leaders to the capital.

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The error first came to light when a ‘netizen’ posted a photo of a banner at a footbridge in Mendiola this morning. Their post, which soon went viral, was posted with the message: “This where our P15.5B go”.

Following the replacement of the banners, the ASEAN 2017 National Organizing Committee (NOC) issued a statement, saying: “The exact tarpaulins or billboards pinned in areas leading to the Mall of Asia Complex did not conform to the approved final artwork.”

US President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premiere Li Keqiang, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among the dialogue partners expected to arrive in the Philippines for ASEAN activities to be held from November 11 to 14.

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