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).

'Gastrodiplomacy' or Gastrodiscrimination'?

Volume 7, Issue No. 45

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, April 12, 2026 

~ Philippine diplomatic officials call it "gastrodiplomacy" - a Canada-wide effort to promote Filipino cuisine and the people who whip it into delectable meals for local and mainstream taste buds. The Ontario segment of Filipino Restaurant Month in Canada (FRMC) was launched two weeks ago at the Philippine Consulate here in Toronto and the invitees were apparently limited to favoured friends and a non-Filipino media outlet. Why? Shall we call it "gastrodiscrimination"? 

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FILIPINO RESTAURANT MONTH 2026

Is It 'Gastrodiplomacy' or

'Gastrodiscrimination'? 

 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Favoritism is a silent betrayal, choosing one over another without cause.” – Maya Angelou

TORONTO - The competitive nature of news coverages puts journalists on the edge every time an important event occurs. A struggle could be expected for strategic space that allows a vantage, unimpeded view of what's going on.

In press conferences, random or by invitation, that's usually the norm. In more formal Question & Answer sessions, journalists are required to add their names to a list of people wanting to ask questions. In others, one simply lines up and waits for his turn.

Two weeks ago, the Philippine Consulate conducted a "press launch" attended by about two dozen of its friends, media representatives, and influencers. From what I've seen in pictures posted to social media, the real working journalists were not there, which tempts me to say it's more like "free lunch."

I learned about the launch only this weekend after frantically searching the internet for any information about Filipino Restaurant Month in Canada (FRMC) which usually happens in April across Canada.

Almost half of the month is over and I was wondering if it was discarded this year. My suspicion was that its novelty has worn off considering that the number of restaurants has gone from a peak of 11 participants at its start in 2022 to only three last year.

Hours of scrolling finally yielded some results on YouTube, thanks to journalist Paula Saraza who reported the story for OMNI News. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVUbARB5TQ).

From her coverage, I was in utter disbelief seeing that the "press launch" had concluded already without the working media colleagues I knew. I was not invited, the Filipino Web Channel, its allied news outlets, and other journalists were never informed. Why? What happened?

Not being told ahead of what will transpire at the Consulate on March 31 was a big insult to me as an active journalist dedicated to covering events relevant to Filipinos and Filipino Canadians.

Like the Consulate, I also have constituents - the millions of viewers and readers here in Canada among Filipinos and Filipino-Canadians, and among Filipino-Americans in the United States, and the Philippines who rely on my reporting.

At the Meet & Greet the Consulate had in October 2025 to introduce new Consul General Kristine Leilani R. Salle, the diplomat adverted to inadequate information to help address problems. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/10/new-consul-general-filipinos-in-toronto.html).

Now, six months later, spreading information through known news outlets and social media seemed to have been curtailed by limiting coverage to friends of the Consulate. I personally take issue with that.

Because of FRMC's great potential to uplift the profile of the food sector and Filipino culinary experts in the Greater Toronto Area, the event is one of the "musts" the Filipino Web Channel religiously covered since it began in April 2022.

Right now I feel so enraged writing this article. Were I and other journalists discriminated against to favour a certain group? Were we forgotten, ignored, overlooked, or disregarded? I hope it's not a case of somebody in the Consulate playing favourites for whatever reason.

My track record covering FRMC is there for everyone to watch and read. News coverages in videos and online print are easily accessible on social media, including YouTube, blogspot.com, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.

That legitimate journalists were left in the dark leads me to believe that the Consulate perhaps thought we're neither media-enough nor influencer-enough, and not even a community-member enough to be asked to cover the annual function. 

But how effective is FRMC in spreading "gastrodiplomacy," the flagship program of the Philippine Embassy and Consulates General in Canada and co-organized with the Philippine Departments of Tourism and Trade and Industry?

What really are these agencies promoting - Filipino cuisine, the chefs behind them, the restaurants themselves, or the people at the Consulate and their friends?

Last year, when there were only three participants, the Consulate explained the rationale in this wise: "to give special focus to young and upcoming chefs and establishments catering to the mainstream market." 

So clearly stated, Filipino food or what passes as Filipino cuisine is less important than raising the profiles of chefs and their restaurants. (Related feature story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/feature-mila-nabor-cuachon-and-casa.html).

Current Congen Salle affirmed that in a recent statement, saying  "She acknowledged the vital role of Filipino restaurateurs in promoting the country’s rich culinary heritage and creating bridges between the Philippines and Canada."

She also "highlighted the significance of the FRMC as a platform for celebrating Filipino cuisine, culture, and hospitality across Canada."

In 2022, according to officials, 40 restaurants across seven provinces and 18 cities in Canada joined the month-long event that resulted in 1,000 orders of prize fixe meals.

Isn't that lackluster? If 1,000 orders were distributed equally to 40 restaurants over a month, that's just 25 orders per, or less than one order a day during the period.

There's no available metrics for FRMC's performance in Ontario, particularly in the provincial capital of Toronto, in the succeeding years. And neither was there any mention of the number of orders or their equivalent in dollar terms.

The novelty of FRMC is wearing off. That much could be said in Ontario, specifically in the Greater Toronto Area where a number of restaurants/bar/eateries has permanently closed due to rising overhead costs.

Perhaps the Consulate should rethink its approach of inviting only what it calls "media representatives, food influencers, and some members of the Filipino community in Toronto." 

That's not "gastrodiplomacy." To be frank, I believe it's more like "gastrodiscrimination" in a lumpia wrapper. (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).