To avoid one getting cropped out of the frame, photos of President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo will be placed "one above the other" instead of side by side, the Philippines' top envoy said Thursday, after a Filipina beauty queen's photo at the country's mission in Bangkok got social media buzzing.
Samantha Bernardo, who placed first runner-up at Miss Grand International pageant in Thailand posted a photo of herself, with the Philippine flag and a portrait of Robredo in the background.
Duterte's photo on the wall, placed beside Robredo's, was cropped out of the vertical or portrait version of the shot. In the landscape or horizontal version, the portraits of the President and Vice President were seen side-by-side.
Foreign Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin Jr. replied to one of his Twitter followers who asked if Philippine embassies are required to hang both photos of the president and vice president.
"They are, but will instruct them to put the pictures one above the other para both can be taken with a single shot. Ty," Locsin said.
Bernardo posted the photo on Wednesday, before her homecoming to Manila. In the comments section of the portrait photo, supporters of Robredo said the Palawan beauty was "manifesting" with the vice president. Duterte supporters asked why his photo wasn't there.
Both sides also noticed that Bernardo was in yellow, the color of the opposition. However, yellow and gold have always been associated with Miss Grand International. Gold and emerald green, actually.
Bernardo also posted a TikTok video of herself striding across the embassy hall, minus the portraits of the two highest officials of the Philippines.
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