Malacañang on Monday condoled with the family of former Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr., known as the brains behind the slogan “It’s more fun in the Philippines,” who died Monday. He was 64.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat confirmed Jimenez’s passing and who, like Senator Francis Pangilinan, expressed condolences to Jimenez family.
“On behalf of the officials and employees of the Department of Tourism, I would like to extend our sincerest condolences to the bereaved loved ones of former Tourism Secretary Ramon 'Mon' Jimenez Jr. who recently passed away,” Romulo-Puyat said in a statement.
In the Senate, Senator Francis Pangilinan stressed Jimenez Jr. “will be remembered for the country’s most popular campaign slogan, ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines.’”
After being appointed by then President Corazon Aquino to head the Department of Tourism, Jimenez said the “Philippines should be as easy to sell as Chickenjoy,” —in reference to the menu fare popular to the masses at food giant Jollibee.
Puyat paid tribute to his “immeasurable contributions” and the “DOT policies that helped shape the National Tourism Development Program for 2016-2022.”
Under his leadership in the DOT, the Philippines improved its ranking in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, jumping from 94 in 2011 to 74 in 2015.
The World Bank said Jimenez was able to transform the DOT “into a primary selling unit whose ultimate goal is not only to improve statistics but also to ensure that every tourism success would include and benefit as many Filipinos as possible.”
Jimenez was appointed by then President Benigno Aquino III as the acting secretary of the DOT in September 2011 to replace former Secretary Alberto Lim.
He led the agency until 2016.
Pangilinan said: “I will always remember Sec. Mon as the man who loved and served his country well, in or out of government.”
Jimenez was known in the advertising industry “Mon J,” who headed one of the most successful advertising firms, the Jimenez Basic which built up products of companies like San Miguel Corp., Globe Telecom, Unilab, Chowking, Coca-Cola, Cebu Pacific, and Jollibee.