Filipino Web Magazine

Friday, 22 May 2026

FEATURE: Philippine Mango Inspires Global Fashion Empire

Volume 7, Issue No. 50

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, May 22, 2026

~ The story that a son of the founder of Mango, the Barcelona-based global fashion empire, has been arrested on Tuesday in connection with his father's death in December 2024 prompted this article owing to the brand's affinity with the Philippine national fruit. Carabao mango, mangga, Manila mango, or whichever one fancies, apparently contributed to the evolution of the popular clothing brand.

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THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL FRUIT

Philippine Mango Inspires

Global Fashion Empire

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Look at the magnificence of sunshine to feel the sweetness of Mango!” ― Jerlin Flower

TORONTO - More than three decades ago (that's 1995), the Philippines' national fruit gets global recognition after the Guinness World Records - "the ultimate authority on record-breaking achievements" - named it as "the world's sweetest mango."

Known in the homeland as mangga, and internationally as Philippine mango (aka carabao mango and Manila mango), the kidney-shaped produce is packed with nutrients and is widely popular for its succulence.

“Distinguished by its signature richness and unmatched sweetness, the Philippine mango is more than a tropical icon," says Consul General Kristine Leilani R. Salle.

Mango was the "featured ingredient" at the re-launch last month of gastrodiplomacy, a project of the Philippine Embassy and Consulates General in Canada, through the annual Filipino Restaurant Month in April across the country.

"Mango is our national fruit, a symbol of home and pride that we carry as Filipinos," she states. "It is a cornerstone of the country’s export industry, with its smooth, fiberless flesh making it ideal for value-added processing across multiple food and beverage formats.”

Ten years prior to the Guinness verdict, a foreign visitor to the Philippines named Isak Andic had a taste of the fruit, and fell in love with it, according to published reports, which also said that he immigrated to Catalonia, Spain in 1953 from Istanbul, Turkiye where he was born.

The story goes that "During a trip to the Philippines, Isak tasted a mango for the first time. He loved the fruit’s color, its vibrancy, and the sense of freshness it brought to mind.

"It became the perfect symbol for what the (Andic) brothers wanted their brand to represent: energy, accessibility, and global appeal," the story further says. The account is unverified by this reporter.

Thus, out of that moment evolved Mango, the global fashion house Isak Andic founded in 1984 in Barcelona, Catalonia's capital and largest city.

Friday, 15 May 2026

Toronto Public Health Launches CondomTO

Volume 7, Issue No. 49

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, May 15, 2026

~ Our guardians at Toronto Public Health are giving out soccer-inspired condoms to promote safer sex during the FIFA World Cup 2026 starting on June 12. The City is hosting several matches through July 2. The condoms come in six designs, perhaps to honour the six townships that formed the current city of Toronto, namely Toronto, East York, North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough, and York.

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TORONTO PUBLIC HEALTH PROMO

Condoms for Free

During FIFA World Cup

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Sexuality is the lyricism of the masses.” ― Charles Baudelaire

TORONTO - Public health authorities have opted to continue what they call a "long-standing and award-winning history of creative sexual health promotion" for the duration of FIFA World Cup 2026.

The city will host six matches on Canadian soil on Friday, June 12 and a round of 32 matches on Thursday, July 2. With that in mind, football fans from all over the world are expected to flood Canada's largest city.

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Where Do Ethnic Media Stand on Members' Wrongdoing?

Volume 7, Issue No. 48

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

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).

Sunday, 3 May 2026

Scandal, Money Deficit Rock Ethnic Media

Volume 7, Issue No. 47

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

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).