A welcome tarpaulin in Mandaluyong city supposedly reminding the public about the health protocols was criticized for bearing a large-scale face of a local politician instead.
A Reddit user posted a photo of it on r/Philippines on Wednesday wherein the user noted that the village chief’s face was larger than the texts of the public health reminder.
“Mas malaki pa mukha mo kesa sa protocol,” the user wrote.
The tarpaulin bears a text welcoming motorists to Barangay Malamig in Mandaluyong City.
It also featured a large photo of the local official named Marlon Manalo with his name in bold letters.
His photo was placed on the side of the mandated minimum health protocols against COVID-19 written in small, barely readable font sizes.
As of writing, the post has been upvoted more than 1,700 times in the discussion website.
The post did not indicate when the photo of the tarpaulin was captured.
In the comments section, Reddit users criticized the overall design of the tarpaulin, saying that the budget for it could have been allocated to other needs of the village.
“Light and small text on a light background!? I feel so sad for the money wasted on printing that,” one user said.
“Ineffective material, unreadable text. Sana ginawa na lang shed yung tarp, or even better pinambili ng facemasks o ayuda yung budget,” another user wrote.
Others observed that even the texts were intentionally colored in a way that can’t be read.
“The text is also colored which doesn’t help,” one user said.
“Sinadya para ung pangalan ang unang mabasa. Lupet din,” another user wrote.
“Sarili nya kasi pinopromote niya hindi yung covid awareness,” another user commented.
One Reddit user claimed that such tarpaulins bearing the names and faces of local officials are common in Mandaluyong City.
“Ang dami sa Manda mga ganyan, from kapitan to mayor palakihan sila ng billboard,” user claimed.
Government officials are prohibited from placing their names, pictures or any identities in government projects and properties under the September 2010 Memorandum Circular 2010-101 of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
This policy covers “billboards or signages bearing the names, initials and images of government officials on government programs and projects.”
The Commission on Audit also issued a similar policy in 2013 via Circular 2013-004.
“The display and/or affixture of the picture, image, motto, logo, color motif, initials or other symbol or graphic representation associated with the top leadership of the project proponent or implementing agency/unit/office, on signboards is considered unnecessary,” the COA circular read.
