The official Facebook page of the local government of Antipolo City shared “before and after” pictures of some areas in the region in an attempt to show what it has supposedly improved on.
The areas were not specified or mentioned in the posts but it appeared to be a combination of residential neighborhoods and public spaces.
One picture caught a Twitter account’s attention which featured a “before and after” shot of a wall near a highway.
It was criticized by social media users since it did not appear to have any significant improvements apart from a simple paint job.
The account even mentioned Leonardo Da Vinci, the famed Renaissance artist who was said to have a habit of leaving his works unfinished or incomplete.
Social media users claimed that it was deleted from the local government unit’s page because it was receiving lots of criticisms.
“Binura na sa page nila, laftrip (laughtrip) mga comments,” a Twitter user wrote.
“Binayaran at proud talaga sila sa ganyang paint job, ha?” another user commented.
“Magpipintura lang, ‘di pa inayos. Sana pinabayaan na lang nang ‘di naging mas pangit,” wrote another user.
Spot the difference?
A look at the local government’s Facebook page reveals it has recently uploaded a series of “before and after” pictures that were not warmly received by some Filipinos as well.
One post featured a picture of a residential neighborhood under two different weather conditions.
Other than that, some Facebook users had a hard time distinguishing what the supposed improvement was.
“Parang spot the difference HAHAHAH ano ba ‘yung improvement,” a particular user commented.
Another user observed that the local government unit only “trimmed” the leaves of a tree since it was hitting the wires, as seen on the “before” picture.
A different post featured railings of a particular school before and after it was repainted.
It also received criticisms since Filipinos claimed it did not have any significant improvements.
“Lumiwanag lang naman saka konting pintura pinagbago, ano ba ‘yan maam/sir,” a Facebook user wrote.
Other similar pictures also received criticisms for its supposed improvements that only appeared to be paint jobs.
A different set of improvement pictures were also criticized since it removed significant greenery which, according to some Filipinos, affected the look of the areas.
Based on the position of the greeneries that were removed, it appeared to be cut for the benefit of the creek.
Local government units usually post information and updates about their projects on social media for the sake of transparency and to gain the approval of their constituents.
These include pictures and videos of projects and certain events, among others.
According to Atul Tuli, former senior sales director of a computer software company, the government can use social media to “generate actionable engagement with (its) constituents.”