Filipino Web Magazine

Saturday, 5 September 2026

Why Tennis Icon Alex Eala Is Our North Star

Philippine Village Voice/The Filipino Web Channel

Currents & Breaking News

REDEFINING COMMUNITY NEWS

in print since 1998 and online since 2005

Volume 8, Issue No. 13

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@aol.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . .

Our latest as of Saturday, September 5, 2026

~ The question may be asked: What is it in Filipino tennis icon Alexandra "Alex" Eala to be called the North Star of Filipinos and countless others being weaned on the sport? Why? Well, the answers lie in her attitude - despite the stress and pressure of competition, she showed grace, respect, humility, and poise that are inherently Filipino.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AN INSPIRATION TO FILIPINOS

Tennis Icon Alex Eala

Is Our North Star

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.” — Confucius

TORONTO - In literature and art, it is said, "the North Star represents steadfastness and inspiration, encouraging individuals to navigate their lives amid uncertainty."

From near-anonymity early on in her life, Alexandra "Alex" Eala has emerged as the iconic symbol of a rising, spirited, and intelligent Filipino youth - a down-to-earth but shining example worth emulating for her ever-growing legions of fans in and outside the tennis court.

When she played the Canadian Open (or National Bank Open) in August, she surprised tournaments officials because of the huge turnout of Filipino spectators at Sobeys Stadium in North York.

That's the most visible show of genuine affection, the closest to hometown support bestowed by an exultant Toronto Filipino community long soiled with false heroes who thrive on idolatry.

Alex's presence here was very refreshing. Perhaps unwittingly she highlighted our lack of authentic leaders, and conversely, the predominance of self-declared stewards of community organizations that harbor make-believe artists.

For example, the one person who sits at the top of one street festival is a scoundrel whimsically elevated to some degree of respectability by a money-making foundation so-called. It's like pulling the wool over our eyes.

Our festivals lure fans in social media postings with the promise of a grand entertainment spectacle and fame, so we see imports from the homeland performing the routinary song and dance numbers.

Alex Eala attracted fellow travelers who see her as one of them, working hard in a strange land, trying her best to excel, and affirming that unmistakable Filipino identity.

At the Canadian Open, she showed grace, respect, humility, and poise inherently Filipino - characteristics that easily won hearts of every Filipino everywhere. That did not escape notice by non-Filipinos; they were simply awed.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HYXSChTpsE&t=9s

She wore the Philippine tricolor, carried the weight of 115 million Filipinos, and spoke both their native and borrowed languages which clearly defined her as Filipino.

On the other hand, entertainers who performed here recently gave us no more than a temporary distraction from the daily grind.

They brought with them the banners of their corporate sponsors, and never once paid tribute to shrieking and applauding fans mesmerized by their ability to ape their foreign counterparts.

Alex spoke from the heart, reminding us that her rising stature in the world of tennis is engendered by broad support from Filipinos as much as by her own skill.

Though the number of attendees at Alex's tennis match in Toronto was limited by stadium capacity, those that supported her displayed authentic and unbridled patriotism.

Meanwhile, the entertainers who flooded our fiesta celebrations were more into self-serving agendas to promote sponsors and organizers, and not, repeat not, the Filipinos who watched them for hours deliver the kind of superficial presentation many among us enjoy.

Even if we combined all the alleged hundreds of thousands of screaming fans that applauded entertainers at Filipino community festivals here, they still amounted to false adulations, short-term and good only for the duration of the feasts.

The rise of Alex Eala should be a good time for the Filipino community to give some serious thought to why we're so addicted to song-and-dance entertainers whose competence appears to be limited to providing amusement to us.

Thursday, 3 September 2026

Lawyers Tighten Squeeze on Balita Tabloid to Pay Up

Volume 8, Issue No. 12

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, September 3, 2026

~ To satisfy an appeal court judgement awarding businesswoman Liwayway Miranda damages to the tune of nearly half-a-million dollars, her lawyers would conduct an examination of the finances and assets of defendant Teresita "Tess" Cusipag who was found liable for defamation. Since the court upheld in March an earlier Superior Court decision, not a dime has been made to compensate Ms. Miranda. This latest development tightens a squeeze on her to pay up.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

EXAMINATION INCLUDES TESS CUSIPAG

Lawyers to Dig Into Finances, Assets of Balita Tabloid

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Misery is the company of lawsuits." - Francois Rabelais

TORONTO - Lawyers might have to do some digging into Balita publisher Teresita "Tess" Cusipag's financial situation and assets as part of an effort to determine sources that may be available to satisfy an appeal court decision ordering her to pay nearly half-a-million dollars for defaming businesswoman Liwayway Miranda.

A Notice of Examination is expected to be served on Ms. Cusipag in the next few days, Ms. Miranda's lawyers said on Wednesday, Sept. 2.

(Full background story:

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2026/07/balita-loses-appeal-ordered-to-pay.html).

The process would require her to attend an "examination in aid of execution" where she must answer questions about her finances, income, bank accounts, property, and business interests.

"The purpose is to identify where recovery can realistically be pursued," lawyers for Ms. Miranda said.

"If we identify wages, bank accounts, business receivables, or other money owed to the defendant, we can pursue garnishment.

"If we identify real estate or personal property, we can take steps through the sheriff to seize and sell assets where appropriate," lawyers explained.

Six months have elapsed since the Court of Appeal for Ontario rejected Ms. Cusipag's appeal, instead upholding Superior Court Justice R. Lee Akazaki's decision finding her and Balita liable for defamation and awarding Ms. Miranda damages.

From the time the appeal decision was handed down in March, there is no indication that Ms. Cusipag, a self-declared "millionaire," obeyed the order. She has stayed silent since.

The defamation lawsuit brought by Ms. Miranda is the fifth such case against Ms. Cusipag and the fortnightly Balita tabloid she publishes and edits.

In those five suits, she lost three (the latest is Ms. Miranda's) and the other two were dismissed. In each of the three, she was ordered to compensate her accusers nearly half-a-million dollar each.

In June 2017, she was also sentenced to 21 days in jail but released after serving 13 days after Superior Court Justice Frederick L. Myers had found her guilty of criminal contempt of court.

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/02/balita-tabloid-editor-in-new-libel-suit.html

Sunday, 30 August 2026

Dolly Parton, Her Music and ToM's Wrongdoings

Volume 8, Issue No. 11

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Sunday, August 30, 2026

~ The song was more that an expression of love and gratitude. When "I Will Always Love You" hit the airwaves in the early 1990s through the movie "The Bodyguard," I didn't know singer and songwriter Dolly Parton, who passed away this month, had written it. One episode in her life worth recounting was her refusal to part, wholly or partly, with the song's copyright even with the prospect of gaining a financial boon. That's a reminder of how spineless Filipino festival organizers conduct their business - by hook or by crook.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

'I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU'

Dolly Parton, Her Music

and ToM's Wrongdoings

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Everybody's going to use you if they can." - Dolly Parton

TORONTO - The name had not been much of an appeal to me until American singer and songwriter Dolly Parton passed away on August 25, by which time I learned she was the musical wizard behind "I Will Always Love You."

All along I thought Whitney Houston wrote and sang it for the 1992 blockbuster thriller "The Bodyguard" where she starred with actor Kevin Costner.

If only for its soundtrack, I watched the movie at least three times in Manila. By the third time, I was already falling for it even if I didn't understand who it was written for and why.

And when I left Manila for the United States in 1993, the song had captured everyone's heart. It filled neighbours' homes, karaoke joints, bars, broadcast stations, jeepneys and buses.

It's not hard to be charmed by the beautiful melody and the song that came out of it, which, according to Wikipedia, sold "over 24 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling single by a female artist of all time." (Related video:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1667048481506561).

The Philippine capital at that time was deeply immersed in Original Pilipino Music (OPM) which flourished from the early 1970s and saw the birth of such bands as The Hotdog, APO Hiking Society, Hagibis, VST & Company, etc., and singers like Rico Puno, Rey Valera, Basil Valdez, Nonoy Zuniga, Freddie Aguilar, Sampaguita, Ella del Rosario, Celeste Legaspi and many others.

So when "I Will Always Love You" hit the airwaves, the effect on me was endearing. Whitney Houston's interpretation (versus the original by Dolly Parton) became a favourite I hummed in my off-key voice everyday at work, at home, at leisure, and even when driving.

But what caught my attention now just as the song is significant to me was the principled stand Dolly Parton had taken in refusing Elvis Presley's offer to sing it and co-share its proceeds.

The prospect was bright. If his version became a hit, Dolly Parton as the songwriter stood to gain a windfall. The expectation dampened, however, when his manager told her the recording would have to be by Elvis Presley's publishing, which would have required her to give up or split her rights.

"I wanted to hear Elvis sing it, and it broke my heart - I cried all night," she said in a published account in 2021. "But I had to keep that copyright in my pocket. You have to take care of your business! Everybody's going to use you if they can."

That statement, particularly its reference to copyright, is very meaningful to my work as a journalist and a YouTuber. Parton and Presley knew what copyright meant for their creativity; it protected them from being pirated by unscrupulous individuals or companies.

For the nth time, I am reminded of what had happened to my intellectual property - the photos and videos I created and the thinking that went with them which the crooks in Taste of Manila (ToM) festival had stolen and manipulated when nobody was looking.

Dolly Parton was correct in saying "Everybody's going to use you if they can." Elvis Presley and his manager were respectful enough to inform her of their interest in her music, and even forthright in saying they wish to have a share of the money it would earn should Elvis Presley recorded it.

None of that kind of integrity happened in my situation. The con artists of ToM just proceeded to appropriate the photos and videos for their benefit, neither seeking permission for their use nor paying for what they stole. And to top it all, never apologize for their transgression.

I railed against a dubious not-for-profit foundation when it awarded Rolly 'kabise" Mangante, the former driver turned self-named founder of ToM, its "community service award" apparently for the street festival, all the while ignoring his many acts that bordered on the criminal.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btf2yoU4AaE

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKKviJ2tEn4

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcs34cnA2bs

Dolly Parton's words continue to ring in my ear. An earlier supporter of ToM that Mangante had betrayed had the audacity to validate the lawlessness committed by Mangante and his mindless minions by defending the steal.

"Everybody's going to use you if they can." To a great extent, I feel like the person who had been used, exploited, and taken advantage of by ToM crooks because they knew my news coverage was intended as a community service than as a for-profit endeavour.

That said, from the time I launched my social media news channels, I allot personal time and my own money pursuing events that have the potential to develop into stories impacting the community. The street festivals in the Greater Toronto Area are examples.

News coverage is a risk, particularly for me because I take an adversarial position to uncover wrongdoing. Challenges rise depending on the degree of the offense being committed.

Street festivals like ToM is no different. Behind the cheery facade of its organizers lies "artists" of the worst kind, they who beguile the community with sweet nothings. (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved.)

Monday, 24 August 2026

362 Candidates on Oct. 26 Election, Including Toronto Mayor Chow

Volume 8, Issue No. 10

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Monday, August 24, 2026

~ Fifty-three candidates, including incumbent Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, are vying for the premier city post in Canada's largest city. The municipal election set for October 26 will also select 25 councillors. One of the candidates, Maria Saras-Voutsinas, is an official of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, who denounced, then defended, the husband and wife editors of a defunct tabloid who were exposed for lying and deceiving two of its writers and the federal Canadian Heritage in 2023.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TORONTO ELECTION ON OCTOBER 26

53 Candidates for Mayor

of Canada's Largest City

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

TORONTO - Municipal election in Canada's largest city is all set to take place on October 26, 2026, City election authorities announced on Monday.

With incumbent Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow seeking reelection, 53 nominees are vying for the premier post. Twenty-five seats in the City Council are also up for grabs. Altogether, there are 362 candidates. (Related video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A15mg60kBJ0 at the 0:59 Mark).

Of her challengers, Councillor Brad Bradford appears to be the most prominent and well-known in the Filipino community. (Related video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIjgS7KVY7k at the 2:08 mark).

For this year's election for mayor, the number of candidates is eight less than the election in June 2023, which was triggered by the resignation of Mayor John Tory over an extramarital affair with an unidentified staff. (Related video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN7Sa7gnlJo).

An official of National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC), Maria Saras-Voutsinas, is competing with 17 other candidates for the seat being vacated by retiring Councillor Paula Fletcher in the Toronto-Danforth ward.

Voutsinas is the daughter of Thomas Saras, president and CEO of NEPMCC. (Related story:

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2026/05/from-technically-criminal-to-garbage.html).

She is the same person who denounced, then defended, the couple Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia, editors of the defunct The Philippine Reporter, from unsavory news articles exposing their lies and deception on two of the paper's writers, Michelle Chermaine Ramos and an intern in Edmonton, Alberta. (Full story at:

Saturday, 22 August 2026

2026 Taste of Manila Makes Outlandish Claim

Volume 8, Issue No. 9

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Saturday, August 22, 2026

~ It must be part of the social media hype to market the street festival to another venue outside city limits of Toronto. The claim has been posted that Taste of Manila has generated more than half-a-million attendees last week in so constricted a place as Little Manila in North York. Police authorities would not venture an estimate. Without proof, however, organizers said 600,000 people came. Really?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ANOTHER EXAGGERATION?

ToM Street Festival's

Outlandish Claim

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“There are some people so addicted to exaggeration that they can't tell the truth without lying.” — Josh Billings

TORONTO - In their usual exaggerated way, organizers of the recently-concluded Taste of Manila (ToM) festival make the outlandish claim that 600,000 people attended the event in the unofficial Little Manila neighbourhood.

It's hard to imagine how that huge number of people could fit into a four-lane, seven-hundred meter stretch (from Wilson Ave.) of Bathurst St., the north-south arterial road in North York, without raising public safety concerns.

This year, as in the past two years, the so-called Society of Philippine (scam?) Artists, Recreation and Community (SPARC) has been consistently contending rising numbers without offering proof of how they reached that conclusion.

Absent that, the statistics appear to have been extrapolated, meaning conjectural, possibly to lull supporters into believing the money they poured in was worth spending.

When asked, Toronto Police could not provide an estimate of how big the crowd was. "We don't have a crowd estimate for this event," a spokesman says.

He suggested to inquire from organizers. I responded by saying people there tended to inflate everything to please sponsors, partners, and vendors.

Explains the spokesman: "Crowds at an event like a street festival are extremely difficult to accurately provide as the crowds are fluid and people are coming and going during the entire event."

On the other hand, he says, "a crowd at an event which is stationary, such as a concert or demonstration, is easier to estimate using drones and other methods."

So how did SPARC, the group hired by so-called ToM founder Rolly Mangante to stage the festival, come up with such huge number in an area constricted by houses, onsite stores, restaurants, booths, and entertainment platforms?

The biggest establishment there is the No Frills supermarket, which sits next to TD Bank, a popular retailer visited by hundreds if not thousands of shoppers everyday of the week. Did SPARC count them too?

One of only three members comprising SPARC - none of which is an artist in the sense of "a person skilled in any of the arts" as opposed to a scam artist or "a person who is very good at something" - is a notorious troll with three names.

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/07/will-taste-of-manila-festival-push.html

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btf2yoU4AaE

In earlier ToM stagings, unofficial crowd estimates were provided by police on the scene, which then became the basis of several stories about ToM's growth from 2014 to 2019.

As festivals were halted because of the pandemic, ToM presented a virtual festival whose important contents such as copyrighted photos and videos were stolen from the Filipino Web Channel.

Saturday, 15 August 2026

Atin Ito Newspaper - a Rarity in Filipino Community Journalism

Volume 8, Issue No. 8

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Saturday, August 15, 2026

~ Its staying power makes the newspaper Atin Ito a rarity in Filipino community journalism in Canada, specifically in the Greater Toronto Area where it is dominant. The periodical commemorates its fifth decade of service on October 3, a true milestone of achievement, a testament to its ability to survive challenges and pursue goals. "Now marking our 51st year of continuous publication," its August 2026 masthead proclaims. The monthly tabloid has been echoing our voice, if not the voice of the Filipino community in Canada, speaking for us where elected leaders fail.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

GOLDEN YEARS OF SERVICE

At 50 Years, Atin Ito Is a Rarity

in Community Journalism

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“A newspaper is a mirror reflecting the public, a mirror more or less defective, but still a mirror.” — Arthur Brisbane

TORONTO - A feat by itself, unto itself, for the community.

Indeed, by faithfully chronicling events here and in the homeland, Atin Ito newspaper is fulfilling a responsibility essential for the understanding of people and events in the community.

It's an unenviable task, inherent in every periodical, no other Filipino paper of note could match. For that alone, our (as implied in its name) newspaper should be celebrated.

Even in man-years, 50 is not just a number to be counted; rather it's a watershed moment that distinguishes the person, and in this instance, Atin Ito, from the rest of the media rat pack.

Fifty years of resilience ought to be marked, not because the clock says so, but because of the enduring human qualities behind such passage of time.

Half a century of being there, in good and bad times, keeping us abreast of developments here and in the homeland, tracking how we manage to survive and thrive, and to many, triumph over our own adversity - that in a nutshell is Atin Ito.

Whatever its viewpoints on issues here in Canada and in the Philippines, I feel an immense pride in seeing and knowing one Filipino community newspaper has been in the vanguard advancing causes impacting Filipinos.

One example is the controversy Atin Ito had ignited and which resulted in drastic changes in processing and hiring of caregivers. That's a remarkable achievement for a community newspaper. (Related story:

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2019/08/eddie-lee-non-journalist-publishing.html).

I'd reported for Manila newspapers for years prior to nearly two decades working as a foreign correspondent, but the feeling of belonging, of being part of a small community interacting, and at times dissenting, with the mainstream through the practice of journalism is something to be commemorated.

Because that exactly was Atin Ito in its formative years, has been in the thick of it 50 years hence, and in the next 50.

I learn all these in reviewing its early issues compiled in a binder that Eddie Lee had shown me during an informal lunch meeting with friends.

Fifty years past, the paper has stood strong in its commitment to serve despite the idiocy by a competing tabloid minimizing its existence. That tabloid's publisher falsely claimed in a Facebook post last month, and I quote: "Balita is now the only newspaper in the community, out of 24 before the pandemic and after, Balita was the only one left . . . " I for one take issue with that because it's a lie.

Half-a-century of experience is an accomplishment to crow about, not an event to be disparaged by stupidity and ignorance.

Come this October, the tabloid that morphed from a mimeographed newsletter to a reliable, full colour periodical that proudly declares "this is ours" - or in the Tagalog vernacular Atin Ito - marks five decades of service to the Filipino community.

By age, Atin Ito is the oldest Filipino newspaper in Canada, bar none. That it stayed afloat for those long years speaks well of the persistent endeavour that has animated its founders and owners, Eddie Lee and Marita R. Lee.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzkVtNCy1o8

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvs_1R6UNQ

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyFPAczjxhg

Atin Ito's story is a love story in itself, not in a romantic sense, but in one man's - and one brotherhood's - passion to serve.

Through the years, Eddie Lee and his fraternity brothers at Upsilon Sigma Phi, undertook the challenge to apprise the growing Filipino community of every key development, and gave them free access to information through the paper.

Upsilon Sigma Phi, according to Wikipedia, is "the oldest Greek-letter organization and fraternity in Asia. Founded in 1918, it is also the oldest student organization in continuous existence in the University of the Philippines." (Full story:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsilon_Sigma_Phi).

To digress a little bit. Upsilon is eight years our senior at Alpha Phi Omega, my fraternity founded 100 years ago in Lafayette, Pennsylvania. APO is famous for its Oblation Run (also called Pylon Run or the Ritual Dance of the Brave) where members run completely naked along a designated route inside the Diliman campus and later in other UP campuses. (Full story:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblation_Run).

Atin Ito lives up to the fraternity motto "We Gather Light to Scatter" and the slogan "The years cannot break us." Even the contrasting colours in its masthead reflect Upsilon Sigma Phi's identity.

Monday, 10 August 2026

Taste of Manila, the Cash Cow of a Family, Is for Sale

Volume 8, Issue No. 7

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Monday, August 10, 2026

~ Beneath the boisterous celebration typical of street festivals, the Taste of Manila (ToM) has a dark side not many people notice. Its officials betrayed colleagues that triggered a $1.5-million lawsuit. They stole photos and video footages and manipulated them to raise the profiles of family and friends. They also tried to extort money from uncooperative vendors. Amidst this backdrop, reports say ToM is up for grabs. And this month, ToM is up and running again. What's the deal now?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

IS TASTE OF MANILA, THE CASH COW, FOR SALE?

Wrongdoings Cast a Shadow

on 2026 ToM Street Festival

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them." - Confucius

TORONTO - Sometime this month, the Taste of Manila (ToM) festival is staged again. Beneath its rosy outlook lurks a string of wrongdoings on the margins of criminal activity.

Outright stealing, explicit extortion, literal betrayals, and accounts of alleged scams by its top officials are shielded to favour a wholesome presentation for unmindful patrons.

Now comes this unconfirmed report that ToM is being sold at a whopping $800,000. Sources claimed officials are shopping for buyers.

One reason bandied about is its self-declared founder, the former driver Rolly Mangante, wants to liquefy his "asset" while the festival still enjoys public support and then retire in comfort.

It could not be determined if the purported sale is linked to a $1.5-million lawsuit filed in 2023 by International Entertainment Company (IEC) against Mangante and Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community (SPARC), his current agent.

Whether this suit, titled CV-22-00691063 at the Superior Court of Justice, has been settled or not remains vague. Neither party would clarify its status.

In December 2022, IEC announced the lawsuit after Mangante contracted SPARC to run ToM for the next three years starting in 2024 despite an existing contract between IEC and Mangante.

The infighting is one of the consequential episodes in the life of ToM. It demonstrates betrayal, and the length Mangante would go to better his standing in the community.

(Related videos:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGVqgszwyYA starting at 4:11 mark).

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ap92btLM8

Prior to ToM fest in 2023, IEC and ToM agreed to collaborate in the matter of marketing and booth sales. That agreement, however, made no mention of the $1.5-million lawsuit. Whether it is part of a settlement is not clear, either.

One extraordinary incident that upset patrons was the installation in August 2024 of a steel fence blocking access to stores and vendors who refused to pay toll to ToM.

Organizers billed it as a "donation" to disguise a shakedown, a real attempt to extort money, from onsite vendors along Bathurst St., a few meters from the main stage for the ToM program. (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btf2yoU4AaE).