Following the recent achievements of Filipino talents, Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo and The Voice US champion Sofronio Vasquez, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed hope the Philippines would build on this momentum.

“We have to maintain the momentum. There is already momentum. It doesn’t hurt that we have people like Sofronio winning The Voice and Caloy Yulo winning in the Olympics,” the President said.

To sustain the momentum, he instructed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to reinstate the Department of Tourism’s (DoT) branding budget of P400 million.

“Restore the P400 million branding budget of the DoT to sustain the momentum,” the President said during a meeting with the Budget and Tourism secretaries.

According to the DBM, the funds will be sourced from the contingency fund of the Office of the President.

Mr. Marcos emphasized that the government should seize this moment to promote the country.

“All of these things our people are doing are great for the Philippines. And we’re still benefiting from the remarkable performance of Filipino health workers during Covid. No one will ever forget this,” he said.