A photo of officials of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has become controversial after it was shared on the commission’s social media account.
Some NCCA officials, as if on a Nazi salute, a salute condemned because it is a tribute to Europe’s dark past because of dictator Adolf Hitler.
The photo was later deleted by the commission on their social media page.
The NCCA explained that this is not a Nazi salute but a greeting to the “Padayon: The NCCA Hour” program that the commission used to do.
It is said to be raising of the hand followed by a wave.
“We would like to clarify that the photo earlier released on the ‘Padayon: The NCCA Hour gesture’ is of a forward hand motion followed by a wave and accompanied by Padayon’s tagline ‘Sulong na!’ as seen in most of our video teasers,” it said in a statement.
The agency apologized to the public and clarified that they do not support one of the abominations that have occurred in our history.
“We don’t want to trivialize what is the most atrocious act in human history, nor we support it in any way. We deeply apologize for the hurt that we inadvertently caused. We will always be mindful and will learn more about this dark episode of human history,” it said.
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NCCA apologizes, explains alleged Nazi salute photo
According to historian Prof. Xiao Chua, the NCCA may have posted only the wrong choice of photo.
He explained that the Nazi salute was condemned because it reminded the Hitler regime of killing millions in Germany and other European countries during the Holocaust.
They also insist they never encourage neo-nazi beliefs.
In order not to cause confusion due to some similarities in the conditional form of salute, the NCCA will also change its way of greeting.