Where Do Ethnic Media Stand on Members' Wrongdoing?

Volume 7, Issue No. 48

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, May 13, 2026 

~ A pack of lies detrimental to a federal agency doesn't seem to affect the ethnic media organization headquartered in Toronto which continues to harbor its husband-and-wife proponents who had preyed on two unsuspecting Filipino writers reporting for a government-initiated journalism program.

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EDITORS VICTIMIZING REPORTERS 

Ethnic Media Group 

Harbors Rogue Members

 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Away, you mouldy rogue, away!” ― Shakespeare

TORONTO - One need not look far to realize the seriousness of the ethical and potentially legal breaches committed by Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia, the conjugal editors of the now-defunct supermarket tabloid The Philippine Reporter (TPR).

They weaved a pack of lies repeatedly, hustling two TPR writers and denying them their money the editors didn't own to begin with, and masking the wrongdoing by putting the blame on Canadian Heritage, which funds the government project.

The deception held for months until a disgruntled TPR staff writer, Michelle Chermaine Ramos, took it upon herself to ask the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) why her pay as reporter for Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) had stalled.

LJI is a federal government outreach administered by NEPMCC and implemented by its members, in this instance, TPR, where Ms. Ramos and an intern in Edmonton, Alberta were, in addition to their regular job at TPR, the accredited LJI reporters.

The layers of fraud the Garcia spouses had created and articulated to Ms. Ramos in writing were peeled one after another by a top NEPMCC official who told her their disingenuous conduct was "technically criminal."

Though there's acknowledgement by the official of the couple's wrongdoing, they continue to be members, still in good standing apparently, to the prejudice of ethical standards journalists are supposed to uphold.

(Related stories: 

1. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/reputation-of-ethnic-media-takes-hit-in.html)

2. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/09/did-rare-book-library-make-mistake-in.html

In fact, as of April 13, 2026, the Garcia couple and three TPR workers - Rick Esguerra, Lui Queano, and Veronica Cusi - are listed as having attended a zoom meeting of NEPMCC on that day.

Ms. Ramos' complaint filed with Canadian Heritage and NEPMCC three years ago remains largely ignored or unacted for reasons not explained by either or both the agencies.

For a full understanding of what her complaint was all about, here are the facts that are undisputed:

1. Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia fabricated the lie that Ms. Ramos' salary and that of an intern, had been on hold due to some allegedly unfulfilled requirements.

2. To reinforce that lie, they invented another lie - that Canadian Heritage had frozen the two writers' salaries as reporters for LJI.

3. To sustain lies #1 and #2, they came up with a fictional "grant guy" in Canadian Heritage who was supposedly impeding the release of the reporters' salaries.

4. To shield themselves from inquiries, the couple further lied to the effect that grant money allocated by Canadian Heritage to NEPMCC came in trickles, which caused further delays.

5. The couple withheld the fact that the full amount for LJI reporters' salaries had been released by the NEPMCC to the Garcias way ahead of LJI implementation.

All these uncontroverted instances led Maria Saras Voutsinas, NEPMCC executive and managing director, to tell Ms. Ramos that the acts by the Garcia spouses were "technically criminal."

According to the NEPMCC's Statement of Principles, "Journalists who abuse their power for selfish motives or unworthy purposes betray the public trust." (italics mine for emphasis).

It points out that "Our legal traditions give the press privilege and protection. We must return this trust by practicing our craft ethically." Further, it says "News organizations should not tell journalists to commit illegal or improper acts."

NEPMCC has been deeply engrossed in securing more grant money from Canadian Heritage to subsidize some projects, including LJI. As of this writing, NEPMCC has not reported on the outcome of its meeting with Canadian Heritage on Friday, May 8, 2026.

Meanwhile, some basic questions are unanswered: Why did Hermie Garcia lie about Canadian Heritage, in effect smearing its good name? Why did he lie about NEPMCC and compromise its integrity? Why did he and wife Mila A. Garcia lie to Ms. Ramos and the intern about their salaries? What was their motive? (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).

Scandal, Money Deficit Rock Ethnic Media

Volume 7, Issue No. 47

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 Sunday, May 3, 2026 

~ With threat to its existence growing imminent by the day, the ethnic media have reached out to Canada's top officials while condemning cutbacks in government funding which essentially discriminated them in favour of mainstream and first nations publications. The rare outburst comes amidst the discovery of a scheme perpetrated by editors of a Filipino publication on two of its writers whom they deceived for months about their salaries. 

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PRESS WEEK 2026 IN TORONTO

Cutbacks in Grant Money

Threaten Ethnic Media

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“The discontent and frustration that you feel is entirely your own creation.” ― Stephen Richards

TORONTO - Amidst a looming threat to its existence and an unaddressed in-house mess described as "technically criminal," the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) celebrated Freedom of the Press, its local version of World Press Freedom Day, a United Nations holiday commemorated every year on the third day of May.

The non-profit organization, so-called "other voices," observed the day with a reception at Toronto City Hall on Friday, May 1, as it continues to grapple with insufficient funding from the federal government amidst a monetary controversy generated by one of its members.

Whether the unearthing of the wrongdoing had a big role in the cutbacks was never clarified by the parties directly involved, namely, NEPMCC and its top officials, and the Department of Canadian Heritage (or Canadian Heritage).

Financial support by Canadian Heritage is critical to NEPMCC since it is a designated implementor of the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI), a government information outreach for underserved communities.

What NEPMCC lacks in money, it makes up for breadth of exposure through its purported membership of over 300 ethnic newspapers serving an estimated three million people across Canada who speak a language other than the official English and French.

In this context, LJI is significant. Among the recipients of taxpayers' money allocated to LJI by NEPMCC from Canadian Heritage grant is a Filipino tabloid, the now-extinct The Philippine Reporter (TPR), the left-leaning fortnightly owned and edited by the spouses Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia.

Repeated requests for comment from Canadian Heritage, NEPMCC, and the couple have been unanswered three years after journalist Michelle Chermaine Ramos, a former TPR staffer, found out that she and an intern based in Edmonton, Alberta had been duped by the Garcias of their salaries for months even though the money had been handed to TPR in one lump sum well ahead of the LJI project.

Their lies and deception were carried out not only on Ms. Ramos and the intern, but also on NEPMCC and Canadian Heritage which supposedly instigated the freezing of the writers' compensation as LJI reporters.

Portraying Canadian Heritage, a federal government agency, and NEPMCC, in a bad light is so vile as to warrant expulsion - if the group had not done so yet - of the Garcia couple from positions of responsibility and from NEPMCC itself.

Journalists are duty-bound to tell the truth and be loyal to it. What the Garcias did was exactly the opposite - they lied, they engaged in make-believe, and lied again and again until they were uncovered by one of their staffers, Ms. Ramos herself.

Full stories:

1. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/lies-deceptions-by-philippine-reporter.html

2. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/12/issues-affecting-ethnic-press-and.html

3. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-black-propagandist-in-our-midst.html

Up to this point when the parties have stonewalled, it's ambiguous if pruning funding to NEPMCC had something to do with the deception perpetrated on the two TPR writers, and the lies devised by the spouses about Canadian Heritage and NEPMCC to cover up their misdeeds.

Just how much NEPMCC is seeking from the government to shore up its finances is unknown. But for the period 2021-2025, NEPMCC received $4.2 million from Canadian Heritage.

Per the minutes of its April 13, 2026 meeting on the NEPMCC website, senior officials of Canadian Heritage and the NEPMCC will have a closed-door meeting this week (Friday, May 8), to "focus on funding matters related to various initiatives, including the Local Journalism Initiative and student internship programs under the Aids to Publishers framework."

The discussion follows NEPMCC president Thomas Saras' rejection to mediate with Canadian Heritage "unless the ministry reverses its decision to cut back aids on various projects." 

The website says his daughter, Maria Saras Voutsinas, "would be meeting with the representatives of the Canadian Heritage to further negotiate for a fair deal."

Saras' disappointment at the reduction of money for Aids to Publishers by approximately $93 million has rubbed on some NEPMCC members, including Joe Volpe, publisher of the Italian daily newspaper Corriere Canadese.

"He noted that these funding cuts," the NEPMCC minutes showed, "have been implemented despite the collective contribution of ethnic media, which plays a significant and often broader role than mainstream media in serving diverse communities and addressing information gaps. 

"He further emphasized that, notwithstanding this impact, mainstream media continues to receive a disproportionately higher level of government funding."

A resolution by NEPMCC's Special General Assembly dated November 10, 2025 has condemned Canadian Heritage for "unilaterally, and contrary to initial commitments to respect the legal and long-standing practice of recognizing NEPMCC’s status," thus placing the organization into an "inferior position" amounting to a denial of equality rights reserved for Canadian mainstream and first nations publications.

Canadian Heritage, the resolution stated, "is deliberately discriminating against Canadian print outlets operating in and for clientele publishing in a third language, (non-English or French)."

"Whereas," the resolution further said, "such action is not only offensive to all the ethnic communities of Canada – identified in the last Census, 2021 as consisting of 24% of the population, and growing -), it also denies them the rights to equal and equitable funding access and benefits of government cultural and linguistic programs now skewed disproportionately to mainstream Anglophone and Francophone publications." (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).

FEATURE: Ms. Clang Garcia: Food Is An Emblem of Culture

Volume 7, Issue No. 46

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, April 24, 2026 

~ Filipino Restaurant Month (April) in Canada is winding down and its local media exposure in Toronto appears unspectacular, no thanks to so-called "influencers" and selected friends the Philippine Consulate had invited to help promote the program. "Food," according to author and food scholar Clang Garcia, "gives identity to people and destination." In an interview, she emphasized that "food is an emblem of culture." 

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CLANG GARCIA, AUTHOR AND SCHOLAR, SAYS:

Food Gives Identity; It's

An Emblem of Culture

 By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Food is a gift and should be treated reverentially -- romanced and ritualized and seasoned with memory.” ― Chris Bohjalian

TORONTO - The excitement of having met a total stranger who happens to have been born and raised in the same community I grew up in years ago in Metro Manila was quite delightful to a point I had overlooked the most salient points of an interview.

Ms. Clang Garcia, a connoisseur of food and drink of international renown, was visiting Toronto in December 2023 when I chanced upon a social media photo of her courtesy call on officials of the Philippine Consulate.

Contacted by email, she agreed to be interviewed at Casa Manila on York Mills Rd., the place recommended by her cousins who drove her there from Brampton for the session at lunch, timed precisely to enable her to see and evaluate the various dishes the restaurant was serving. 

(N.B.: As of March 20, 2026, the York Mills location has closed. The resto has moved to 508 Danforth Ave. in GreekTown). (Related video: Casa Manila, Pioneer in 'Kamayan'-Style of Eating, Now in Danforth)

Casa Manila, Pioneer in 'Kamayan'-Style of Eating, Now in Danforth

Initially she wondered how I could be there so fast, believing I planed in overnight from New York. No, no, I explained. Right where we are is North York, a former township merged with Toronto.

The slip kind of broke the ice, lightening up the conversation over Filipino dishes Casa Manila is famous for, such as crispy pata, daing na bangus, pinakbet, and rice.

Filipino food was actually the reason for the interview. But as we talked, I learned she's from the same neighbourhood in Pasay City where the family had relocated from Cavite province and planted our roots there.

That information actually distracted me from writing this essay about Filipino cuisine of which Clang is an expert, and instead, I devoted a piece to a recollection of our shared community in the Philippines. (Full story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/01/pasay-city-and-memories-of-yesteryears.html).

I should have written about the food two-and-a-half years ago after our meeting, but forgot to do it until now, just a few days remaining of the 2026 Filipino Restaurant Month in Canada (FRMC) launched late last month in eight provinces and participated in by 30 restaurants, including five in Toronto.

FRMC aims to highlight "the diversity and uniqueness of Filipino dishes and ingredients, the expertise of Filipino chefs, and the growing presence of restaurants offering Filipino cuisine nationwide," according to a press statement from the Philippine Embassy. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2026/04/gastrodiplomacy-or-gastrodiscrimination.html).

We sat across each other in a cubicle and waited for the dishes Clang had selected from the menu. And when they came, the aroma alone proved irresistible to be ignored as it instantly whetted our appetite.

"Food is not just a means or a source of sustenance," she began the conversation while crunching the crispy brown skin of the pata, "but it gives identity to people and destination. So it's an emblem of culture."

Having said that was the easy giveaway to her in-depth knowledge of Filipino cuisine, one of the reasons she's the ambassador in the Philippines for the World Food Travel Association, the world's leading authority on food and beverage tourism.

Clang is a culinary anthropologist, food scholar, and author

of the 2023 book Philippine Food Holidays which won the 29th Gourmand Awards for "Best Food Tourism Book in the World." (She gifted this reporter with a copy after the interview).

She refers to herself as "an advocate of culinary heritage tourism" and also as "Philippine culinary heritage explorer" curating gastronomic experiences around the Philippines.

In her travels she's able to document at least 20 "heritage food champions" in far-flung areas, such as the indigenous communities in Mindanao where she found and shared a passion for preserving culinary culture with the natives.

Videos of the interview:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJZ8ymkCGGw - Part 1

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR4lqp80POA - Part 2

3. Ms. Clang Garcia: The Flavours of Home Are Embedded in Filipino Food - Part 3

Asked what should be the national dish of the Philippines, she remarked: "It's so hard to explain Filipino food until you tap into the history."

"The gift of the Filipino is that we adapt whatever it is that we like and we just let go of something that's not palatable to us," she said. "So I believe we have to celebrate that uniqueness. If I have to define Filipino food . . . it's a mixture of indigenous and international flavors." 

"As we honor our history, we're able to give birth to a plethora of Filipino cuisine that's distinctively Filipino . . . " she added. (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).