Wednesday, 25 June 2025

With the Feasts in Little Manila Comes the "Kotong Gang"

Volume 6, Issue No. 56
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Romar Media Canada, The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .
 
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Wednesday, June 25, 2025 

~ A relatively new breed of scam artists may take advantage again of vendors and revelers joining the fun at Toronto's Little Manila, the favourite celebration area for some Filipino community events. Last year, the Taste of Manila (ToM) - hyped by organizers as "a festival for everyone," which was a misnomer as it blocked establishments that refused to pay grease money - had one of its guests then-candidate Isko Moreno who, after winning the mayoralty race, had decried the many instances of "kotong" in the Philippine capital.


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THE FIESTA SEASON IS ON
'Kotong' Gang May Surface Again in Little Manila 
Steel Fence Is Its Tool Against Non-Compliant Vendors 



By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel


"Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great." - Edward Coke


TORONTO - The season of fiestas and merrymaking is again upon the Filipino community and with it, the potential to garner tons of money by double-dealing organizers.

As in the past 11 years, the focus is the unofficially-declared Little Manila - home to an assortment of rogue characters play-acting as community leaders.

The area is not unlike Manila, the Philippine capital, from where it adopted its name, only smaller geographically, thus Little Manila. But its size should not fool anyone, for within its narrow confines exists the very stuff right-thinking Filipinos abhor.

The notoriety of the city 13,229 kilometres away has found cause célèbres here who are just as brazen and greedy as their counterparts in the homeland. 

A recent visitor here, then-candidate-now-mayor of Manila, Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso, has decried in a media scrum there the prevalence of "kotong" - slang for bribery and/or extortion by the authorities.

A picture of him appeared in social media with the inscription "Kotong sa Maynila" which was his way of expressing disgust at the manner hapless citizens are being victimized.

I was a bit enthralled the moment I saw that photo because weeks ago, I criticized officials of Taste of Manila (ToM) festival and Society of Philippine (con?) Artists, Recreation and Community (SPARC) for installing a fence blocking access to five establishments that had refused to pay grease money.

The steel fence visibly epitomized "kotong" and all its ugly connotation. Interestingly, neither ToM and its self-declared founder Rolly Mangante, a former driver at the Philippine Consulate, nor the con artists at SPARC, denied any role in its installation. Their silence could be construed as acquiescence or admission of guilt.
"Kotong" was a word I remember spoken by media colleagues during the time, years ago, I covered the Manila police beat as a reporter. It's a mean euphemism for extortion.

Now, in the context of a shakedown by ToM and SPARC that led to the installation of a13-feet high fence in August 2024, resorting to "kotong" finds new meaning in the Filipino community.
Theft is another one of those illegal practices resorted to by ToM officials whose "creative" impulses mean stealing photos and video footages and manipulating them to promote themselves, their families and friends.

The act of stealing materials from my YouTube channel was defended by former ToM ally, Mon Datol, whose moronic ideas conflicted with existing copyright law as we know it.
The best example of that steal is by the so-called Philippine Event Services Ontario (PESO) of Philip Beloso, Pepito Torralba, Jerome Peralta, Dannasol Luna and her brother of lunatrix video. The PESO acronym is quite suggestive of a scam.

(Related stories: 2. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/03/vendors-ask-taste-of-manila-wheres-our.html

These PESO people have been identified as the culprits by two former ToM partners of Rolly "Kabise" Mangante, namely, Cecille Araneta and Ramon "Mondee" Datol. 


Their attention has been called for their wrongdoing many times over but they clammed up as soon as they are confronted. Now, the prospect of "kotong" emerging again is all too real. (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
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Friday, 20 June 2025

Ethnic Media Nixes 'Fairy Tale' by The Philippine Reporter

Volume 6, Issue No. 55
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . 

Our latest as of Friday, June 20, 2025 

~  What amounted to a denial by an ethnic media manager of a well-documented complaint against editors of a Filipino tabloid is contradicted by the swift action of its top official compelling immediate payment of grant money to two reporters working under the federal government-funded Local Journalism Initiative. 

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EXPOSE BY MICHELLE CHERMAINE RAMOS
NEPMCC Validates Claim v. Hermie Garcia, Wife
Complaint Unearths the Couple's Lies and Deceptions


By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel


"Some lies should be left to wither and die. Others demand a response." - Billy Ball


TORONTO - One crucial detail I had missed while writing the story has become material to the broader issues that were inadvertently sidestepped because of overwhelming evidence.

I refer to the prompt action by the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) compelling the conjugal editors at The Philippine Reporter (TPR), namely, Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia, to pay two writers their salaries as reporters for the government-funded Local Journalism Initiative (LJI).

In the initial articles I wrote and published in the online Filipino Web Magazine (https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/), I unintentionally skipped the NEPMCC move contained in a blow-by-blow complaint filed by journalist and artist Michelle Chermaine Ramos against the Garcia couple.

Ms. Ramos and another writer based in Edmonton, Alberta were the unknowing victims in an elaborate hoax concocted by the Garcias that had defrauded them for months of hard-earned money working under the LJI program.

Following my unpleasant encounter in April with Maria Saras Voutsinas, managing director and vice president of NEPMCC, the spotlight is on again on the lies and deceptions by the Garcias uncovered by Ms. Ramos.

"What Michelle told you is not true!" Ms. Voutsinas said to me on the day I went to cover the group's World Press Freedom Day celebration at Toronto City Hall. (Full story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-not-so-welcoming-world-press-freedom.html).

If that is the case as Ms. Voutsinas has averred, why did the NEPMCC pressure the Garcia couple to pay up what they owed to Ms. Ramos and the Edmonton writer who, by the way, is a member of Anakbayan? Why did her father, Thomas Saras, NEPMCC president and CEO, order the Ombudsman to investigate?

"It was beyond ridiculous," explains Ms. Ramos in her complaint, "that the council (meaning NEPMCC) had to intervene on more than one occasion to hammer them (the Garcias) to do the right thing by forcing them to pay us our grant funds that the council had entrusted them with - and had given them in one lump sum in advance."

The phrase " . . . by forcing them to pay us our grant funds . . . " clearly shows the NEPMCC recognizes and affirms the validity of Ms. Ramos' complaint. And without so much as saying it, it makes a lie of Ms. Voutsinas' unequivocal outburst.

I can only speculate why Ms. Voutsinas tried to cover up for the Garcias and their misdeeds. She admitted that her father, Thomas Saras, has long been friends with the couple. (Full story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/05/forsaking-truth-for-friendship-at.html ).

The Garcias had claimed they were "sitting down to meet with" the "grant guy" but after waiting months to get paid and learning from Ms. Voutsinas that the guy is nonexistent, Ms. Ramos officially emailed her complaint - on Ms. Voutsinas' advice - to the Garcias, confronting them with what she was told was the truth. 

Copies of the complaint were also sent to Canadian Heritage, Mr. Saras, Ms. Voutsinas, and the NEPMCC Ombudsman on January 2, 2023.

Mr. Saras then immediately called the Garcias and asked the NEPMCC Ombudsman to investigate, which forced the Garcias to finally pay Ms. Ramos within days.

A similar situation happened with the Edmonton writer who had also expressed her grievance against the Garcias over undue delays in her salary. The quick intervention by Mr. Saras and Ms. Voutsinas prompted the Garcias to recompense her the following day.

Why did Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia resort to this labyrinthine sham which dragged down Canadian Heritage, the NEPMCC and its top officials to cheat Ms. Ramos and the Edmonton writer? (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/12/lying-breaching-law-and-ethics-are-not.html).

"They probably assumed we'd never talk since we never collaborated on anything on the job," Ms. Ramos volunteered to say. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/08/left-leaning-filipino-tabloid-tumbles.html).

Earlier on, she said she was annoyed by an alleged requirement she had to comply with supposedly demanded by a "grant guy" at Canadian Heritage before her salary could be released. 

But what infuriated her was when the Garcias kept pressing her to continue working while claiming they were in talks with the "grant guy" even after she repeatedly told them she was taking a break starting November 2022 until the "grant guy" would release the months of backpay.

"At that point," Ms. Ramos said, "I was really furious with this grant guy they (the Garcias) claimed they were dealing with . . . "

She wrote to the Garcias: "I'm no longer just frustrated but frankly absolutely furious that they're (meaning Canadian Heritage and the grant guy) obviously using us but taking us for granted . . . They must think we're stupid . . . It makes me question the government's announcements of funding for other industries since our allocated funds haven't reached us."


If Ms. Ramos only knew. If only she had known that all this time Hermie Garcia was deliberately lying to her and to the Edmonton writer. 

At that point, she couldn't understand why the Garcias - who she thought were supposedly brave outspoken activists - could not say "no" or set boundaries with this "grant guy" because they kept contacting her and trying to convince her to keep writing for LJI despite not being paid.

"I seriously wondered why their backbones apparently disappeared when it came to this grant guy," she said.

After months of waiting for nothing, Ms. Ramos felt she wasn't getting the full picture and suspected the Garcias did not have the guts to be assertive with this "grant guy." 

So she eventually decided to find out and follow up with the "grant guy" herself, which led her to inquire with Ms. Voutsinas who told her he never existed.

That means Ms. Ramos' impulsive flare-up against Canadian Heritage and the "grant guy" so-called had no basis in fact. But she's not to be blamed either because she was misled.

For the truth as it emerged later is that this federal agency had, ahead of time, released the grant money to NEPMCC for disbursement, and from there, to the hands of the Garcias in one lump sum.

As she did her own inquiries, it became evident the Garcias had deceived her and the Edmonton writer. What came out was that the "grant guy" was invented by Hermie Garcia and did not exist. His story that Ms. Ramos had believed was a fairy tale. (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).

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Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Communal Meal at Canada's Largest Church Potluck

Volume 6, Issue No. 54
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

Our latest as of Wednesday, June 11, 2025 

~  "Affirming" and "Welcoming" are two words so nuanced one could be mistaken for the other. During a news coverage this past weekend, the difference could be felt and seen in a communal meal tagged as "Canada's largest church potluck" in downtown Toronto. The noon event showed what "affirming" means as opposed to "welcoming." 

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CANADA'S LARGEST CHURCH POTLUCK
Differentiating 'Affirming' from 'Welcoming'
Over 200 People Shared Communal Meal


By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel


"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness". - Dalai Lama XIV 


TORONTO - To my uninitiated mind, it was intriguing to hear Rev. Jason Meyers say "we are an Affirming church" to describe the Metropolitan United Church he leads as Minister for Worship and Faith Formation.

I am not much of a religious person so the moment "affirming" is mentioned, I hurriedly tried to find out the context of how it is used. In my Catholic upbringing, I never once heard it said in rare moments I visited church and attended Mass.

On Sunday, June 8, I wondered why so many people - at least 200 is the official estimate - gathered and partook of meals at McGill Square fronting the church at 56 Queen St. East.

Related videos:

I went there to cover that event dubbed as "Canada's largest church potluck" purely for its uniqueness, news value, and how it fits the multicultural aspects of my news organization.

In the hour-or-so I walked around shooting pictures and videos, the answers to my questions came unfolding before my eyes. And it's not just people talking to me, it's the whole event speaking for itself.

It was impressive. I told church officials I am deeply moved not so much by the huge turnout but by the good-natured atmosphere, the fellowship, the sharing of food, and the spontaneous conversations across the 100-foot long table painted in rainbow colors.

I guess that in my 15 years in Toronto covering events relevant to the Filipino community, I had not experienced such universal harmony where the person matters more than looks, rank, or status as this one.

Regardless age, class, gender, faith, race, sexual orientation, political beliefs, etc., everyone is affirmed, which is to say, to quote from the church's website, "that God's love extends to everyone equally and without reserve."

I have very limited knowledge of religion. The fact that I was born and baptized a Catholic does not mean much to the journalism career I've chosen to practice from early on. 

So I had to do a little research to increase my knowledge, especially now that I'm confronted with what seemed to me as new, the words "affirming church."

One of the blogs I found googling was that of Rev Karla's (https://revkarla.com/about-rev-karla/) which is very enlightening for me. She writes about the difference between a "welcoming" and an "affirming" church.

She says, and I quote:

"In an affirming church, all people are welcome regardless of the color of their skin, where they were born, who they love or what they believe. You won't find judgment or condemnation there; instead, you will receive love and support from those around you. The message of an affirming church centers on acceptance and love for everyone."

Well, I said to myself, that's exactly why a large number of people joined the communal meal tagged as "Canada's largest church potluck"  at the Metropolitan United Church on Sunday.

In contrast, a "welcoming church," states Rev Karla: " . . . does not necessarily mean it sees all members of its congregation as equals within its community. They will say things like, 'We welcome everyone,' instead of saying, 'We accept and affirm everyone.' 

"Saying that you accept and affirm someone means that you do not expect them to change their authenticity for them to be embraced by your community. Welcoming someone inside should mean the same, but unfortunately, in the church setting, it simply means you're welcome to fill a seat and tithe."

I am now in a quandary. Even though I am not a genuinely practising Catholic, I'd ask: is my church affirming or welcoming? (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).

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Thursday, 5 June 2025

Historic Reckoning: Philippine Independence and Rizal's Birth

Volume 6, Issue No. 53
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . 

Our latest as of Thursday, June 5, 2025 

~  Filipino artists of note abound in the Greater Toronto Area but only few could be considered heritage-conscious, meaning the creative geniuses who create art that illuminates understanding of history and culture of the people, the homeland and the adopted country, and records the triumphs and accomplishments of generations. Such artistry could be found in the works of The Maestro Romi C. MananQuil, artist and journalist Michelle Chermaine Ramos, and artist Ignacio "Mogi" Mogado, the sculptor behind larger-than-life bronze statue of José Rizal, the Philippine national hero, in the northeastern Toronto suburb of Markham.

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BY FILIPINO ARTIST MOGI MOGADO

José Rizal Statue: An Uplifting Symbol for Filipinos


By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel



"The monument of a great man is not of granite or marble or bronze. It consists of his goodness, his deeds, his love and his compassion". - Alfred Armand Montapert



TORONTO - This month of June is historically significant to Filipinos in at least two ways: one, the declaration of self-rule on June 12, 1898 against Spain; and two, the birth of Philippine national hero José Rizal on June 19, 1861.

It had taken 37 years - from his birth to his execution by musketry, the last straw in the march to freedom - for Filipinos to break away from over three centuries of Spanish colonization marked by exploitation and abuses of the indigenous people of the islands who, by a twist of fate, had taken the name of their overlord, Spain's King Philip II, to denote their country and themselves, thus Philippines, and the natives, Filipinos.

Rizal's death by firing squad on December 30, 1896 at age 35 had sparked the revolution that led to a short-lived Philippine independence nearly two years later, in 1898. (Video at: JOSE RIZAL: The Death That Changed A Nation).


Both events are celebrated in the Greater Toronto Area with the usual pomp and wreath-laying rituals, and in some cases, impertinent pageantry showcasing what's purported as the most gorgeous ladies around.

But our Filipino artists are deep thinkers. They go beyond the superficial in honouring the past by reorienting our current perception to what is relevant and meaningful to a changing world.

Thus we have Romi C. MananQuil to remind us of a glorious bygone era; Michelle Chermaine Ramos to recognize our major role in our adopted land; and Ignacio "Mogi" Mogado to proclaim we're also a nation of heroes unafraid to face death for love of country.

Related story and videos:

Mogado's José Rizal departs from the archetypal José Rizal we knew for the longest time. His larger-than-life rendition of the hero virtually teases us with a polite smile, like saying there's no greater glory than being martyred. 

The bronze statue is touted to be the first in Canada of such a grand scale - 6 feet 3 inches tall compared to Rizal's height of 5 feet three inches.


The only other monument of Rizal within the Greater Toronto Area is a bust replica at Earl Bales Park in North York, which was a gift from the Philippine government erected there in 1998 to commemorate the centennial of Philippine independence. 

The bust made of cold cast bronze measures 2.6 ft. x 2 ft x1 ft. and mounted on a 6.6 feet granite pedestal. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOmxsqK801Y).


The park's central location and accessibility to public transport made it a good choice as it's also a favourite site for picnics and Filipino community events. So that for the past many years, the community of Rizal believers marks Rizal's birth (June 19, 1861) and death (December 30, 1896) there with all the fanfare it can muster. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvgIudvTEGA).

If distance is not an issue (it is for me), the monument in Markham should be the centerpiece of any Rizal day celebration in the GTA. The image conveyed by the full-size statue is more uplifting for Filipinos and to public perception in general than what the bust exudes.

Mogado did an exemplary job sculpting the statue. In fact, he succeeds where the bust fails in embodying the ideals and aspirations of a people that his Rizal represents in carrying the still-relevant novel Noli Me Tangere, a classic depiction of Spanish abuses of the time.

The monument in Manila, which is also a mausoleum (the remains of Rizal are entombed there), stands out for its grandeur. The exact same thing is replicated in Madrid, Spain. (Video at: The Philippine Hero Jose Rizal in Madrid, Spain). Mogado's rendition captures the simplicity and magnificence even without the obelisk.


There's no doubt Markham's Filipino community will accord the same reverence as their Toronto counterparts. But I'm saying that the high point of Filipino celebrations should be where people could envision us as living creatures and not as an ancient representation of parts of the human anatomy.

Mogado's monument comes alive not just for its full size, actually taller by one feet, but because it is so expressive of the new generation of Filipinos past the era of the boomers. I believe that is what Mogado is trying to say.

Rizal's monument is as much a monument to all the people who helped build it as it is to Mogi Mogado, the sculptor, artist, and journalist. But if truth be told, the structure is intrinsically a monument to all Filipinos in Canada! (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
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