José Rizal Statue: A Stirring Symbol for Filipinos

Volume 1, Issue No. 4

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and Currents & Breaking News (CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

Our latest as of Thursday, July 25, 2019 

~  A first in the history of Canada and of the Filipino-Canadian community is the life-size monument of Philippine national hero José Rizal. It's the fulfillment of a dream for its sculptor, the self-taught artist, and journalist Ignacio "Mogi" Mogado. With the help of co-Rizalist Alex Chiu, now retired as councillor of Markham; Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, Marlene Mogado, Alicia Chiu, and the Filipino community of Markham, the masterpiece in bronze is installed at the city's Luneta Park grounds.

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BY FILIPINO ARTIST IGNACIO 'MOGI' MOGADO

José Rizal Statue: A Stirring Symbol for Filipinos in Canada

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 - For the artist who sculpted a life-size statue of a smiling Jose Rizal, the Philippine national hero, the undertaking was the biggest challenge of his life - a dream fulfilled for him personally and for the community in the City of Markham where he lives.

Journalist Ignacio "Mogi" Mogado is unschooled in the arts but his creativity goes beyond the confines of a university or an art school. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak87ArSXQPk). He sculpts, paints, and writes.

In fact, he is proficient enough to build a masterpiece from a combination of a boyhood dream, an inspiration that persisted until it came to fruition, and a strong desire to honour Jose Rizal, the catalyst of the Philippine Revolution of 1896 against Spain. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvgIudvTEGA).

Sleepless nights and endless worrying since 2014 slowly took shape, and in 2016, the then-Markham Councillor Alex Chiu suggested he would take care of the funding and city approval so Mogi could devote his time creating the statue and marketing it.

On that same year, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti surprised everyone with his announcement that the city would have a full size - not just a bust - statue of Jose Rizal as its contribution to the 150th-anniversary celebration of Canada in 2017. What that meant for Mogi was to go back to the drawing board.

Mayor Scarpitti was apparently so moved by the Filipinos' reverence for Jose Rizal during a visit to the Philippines with a trade mission in 2015. He noticed that apart from the grand monument at the Luneta, every community has its Rizal monument. Other countries, notably Spain, also have Rizal statues. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYjRO3Z5Xe8).

According to Mogi, he and Alex Chiu are, in his words, "both avid Rizalist since boyhood and had the same yearning to honor him in a grand way". And so it wasn't totally unusual that the two would team up and accomplish their dream with the help of no less than Mayor Scarpitti and the local Filipino-Canadian community.

The magnificent fruit of those cooperations was the smiling bronze statue of Jose Rizal, which was formally unveiled on Sunday, June 9, 2019, at the Luneta Garden in Markham. (Video at: https://vimeo.com/341384483).

Prior to that, the city had a Rizal Ave. named after the hero, and a Catholic school in honor of San Lorenzo Ruiz, which is credited to then-School Board Trustee Marlene Mogado. The effort, said Mogi, "was to honour our heritage, share it with fellow Canadians and put our legends on the map".

Mogi did an exemplary job sculpting the statue, in fact, succeeding where the Rizal 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: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYjRO3Z5Xe8). 

Mogi's statue, the first and only life-size rendition in Canada, captures the simplicity and magnificence of the main monument even without the obelisk. He even makes Rizal smile as a symbol of hope.

There's no doubt Markham's Filipino community will accord the same reverence as their Toronto counterparts. Now that it's there, the high point of Filipino celebrations should be where people could envision Filipinos as living creatures and not as an ancient representation of parts of a body.

Mogi's monument comes alive not just for its height, actually taller by one foot, 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.

Not to be forgotten in creating this landmark is the couple Alex Chiu (retired Markham councillor) and Alicia Chiu. A press release said Mr. Chiu "fathered and fundraised for the project" while Mrs. Chiu "conceived the Luneta Gardens plan and chaired the Rizal project".

Of course, without the full support of the City of Markham, Mayor Frank Scarpitti, and the Markham Filipino Canadian Community, Mogi's Rizal would not have come to be a reality. 

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 2019. All Rights Reserved.)

Filipino Lawyer Eyes Senate of Canada Seat

Filipino lawyer Maria Eleanor Rodriguez (in red) with her first cousin, Ms. Bea Purisima Villaroman, a great great granddaughter of Philippine hero Jose Rizal's eldest sister Saturnina Rizal Hidalgo, at Earl Bales Park in North York, Toronto.

Volume 1, Issue No. 3

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and Currents & Breaking News (CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

Our latest as of Monday, July 22, 2019 

~  A Filipino woman lawyer is seeking a seat in the 105-member Senate of Canada to further her advocacy for women, the youth, the immigrant communities, the elderly, and the visible minorities, especially Filipinos. The Niagara Falls resident, a long-time law practitioner in Ontario, says her being an immigrant, female and a lawyer puts her in a unique position to help people. Maria Eleanor Rodriguez appears to be the first Canadian of Filipino descent to publicly declare her intentions even as a vacancy in the Ontario representation will occur in January next year and the following two years.

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MARIA ELEANOR RODRIGUEZ, BARRISTER AND SOLICITOR

Advocate for Women and Minorities Eyes Senate Seat 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.” ― Kahlil Gibran

TORONTO - The Senate of Canada is a full house now. One hundred and five members sit, representing Canada's 10 provinces and three territories from the Pacific to the Atlantic to the Arctic, or as popularly stated, from coast to coast to coast. (As of 23 April 2019, there are 104 sitting senators and one vacancy, according to a list by Wikipedia).

It's the chamber of “sober second thought” of Parliament whose members are appointed, the other half is the House of Commons consisting of 338 MPs (Members of Parliament) elected at large in their electoral district or riding.

Ontario is allocated 24 seats, as are the three other major regions, namely, Quebec, the Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) and the Western provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan). 

The situation in the Senate has stabilized since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister in November 2015 and started to fill up vacancies. In total, he has named 30 senators, compared to 59 by Stephen Harper, his predecessor, during his nine years (2006 to 2015) in office.

To end partisanship in Senate appointments, Trudeau introduced an innovation in 2016 - the creation of the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, the non-partisan body consisting of three permanent federal members and two members each from provinces or territories where a vacancy is to be filled.

Thus qualified individuals wishing to be appointed may apply, based on their merit and not on political affiliation, to the board, which then makes up a shortlist of candidates to be considered when vacancies occur. 

This change has a significant effect on the Filipino communities in Ontario, the province where most of the estimated 851,410 Filipino-Canadians in all of Canada live. The provincial capital, Toronto, is home to Canadians of Filipino descent, at 282,385 people, the fourth largest visible minority group behind the Indian, Chinese, and Black communities.

Despite their numbers, there is not one Filipino in the Senate to represent Ontario. 

Until Mr. Trudeau, a Liberal, changed the rules recently, the pool from which to pick a nominee was limited by party affiliation. But now that partisanship is set aside and merit gains more weight, Senate hopefuls come from other sectors. 

One of these is a practising lawyer, Maria Eleanor Rodriguez, the Philippine-born advocate for women and racial equity, based in the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario. (Background: https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/niagara-region/city-of-niagara-falls/the-falls/).

Knowledgeable, articulate and outspoken, Ms. Rodriguez' background in law, her community grounding, and a keen understanding of issues affecting visible minorities provide a rich framework for legislative work in the Senate. (More info at: https://www.merlaw.ca/about)

"I'm really hoping that I'll be given the opportunity to become a Senator here in Canada because I would like to represent the minority, female, immigrant. I believe that no senator that I know of represents or advocates for them," she states in a recent interview while in Toronto. 

"When I say immigrant does not just necessarily mean Filipinos. But since I am Filipino, I would like to be able to advocate for them as well. And there are so many Filipinos here in Canada. It saddens me that I have met a lot of them who have experienced discrimination in the country, and I want to do something about it," she explains.

Ms. Rodriguez was at Earl Bales Park in North York accompanying a close relative, her first cousin, on a visit from the Philippines, Ms. Bea Purisima Villaroman, a great great granddaughter of Philippine hero Jose Rizal's eldest sister Saturnina Rizal Hidalgo. (Videos at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXZQuxQ_wB4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_hAqB5oZIg).

The two were paying their respects to the hero on Wednesday, June 19, 2019, his 158th birth anniversary. Rizal's execution by musketry on December 30, 1896, in Manila sparked the Philippine revolution against colonizer Spain, which in turn led to the declaration of Philippine independence on June 12, 1898.

In Ontario which Ms. Rodriguez seeks to represent, the 24 slots are fully occupied. However, three senators are scheduled to retire in the next three years, namely, Nicole Eaton on January 21, 2020, or six months from now; Jim Munson on July 14, 2021; and Thanh Hai Ngo on January 3, 2022.

"I notice that there is no Filipino in the Senate right now," she notes. "I believe I am very much qualified . . . I have a huge experience when it comes to law. I know for sure that if I become a Senator, I would be able to help a lot of Filipinos here in Canada," Ms. Rodriguez points out.

A single mother with a full-time job and two young children to take care of, Ms. Rodriguez worked her way up to becoming a lawyer in Canada.

"I am proud of what I have achieved but I want to do more," she says, explaining, "I am not a political person but it's just that I really believe I can help a lot of people in my own way."

Ms. Rodriguez has recently put up a group called "Awareness Against Racial Discrimination" to advocate for the visible minority, the female, the elderly and the youth.

"When people started coming to us seeking our assistance, I realize that the one thing I have always been passionate about is helping those in need," she states in another interview.

"This is the biggest factor that contributed to my desire of becoming a Senator - my passion to help," she emphasizes.

"Clearly," she adds, "it's not just the Filipinos I want to help but everyone else. I am an immigrant, I'm female, so I believe that I'm in a unique position because apart from being Filipino, an immigrant, a woman, I'm a lawyer. 

"So I know there's a lot of people that will be able to identify with me and I don't think you will see one in the Senate who had the combination that I do . . . being an immigrant, female and a lawyer. I believe I will be an asset in the Senate," Ms. Rodriguez reiterates. (Copyright 2019. All Rights Reserved.)

The Inevitable Conflict Between Editors

My newspapers in San Diego - Diario Veritas and Philippine Village Voice.

Volume 1, Issue No. 2

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and Currents & Breaking News (CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

Our latest as of Saturday, July 20, 2019 

~  I've had the rare chance of working as a foreign correspondent for two international news organizations, one Japanese and the other German, for a total of twenty years. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE). Journalism in those days was at its optimum and fiercely competitive beginning with the bombing of the Liberal Party election rally at Plaza Miranda, the declaration of martial law by Ferdinand Marcos, the assassination of Benigno Aquino, the People Power revolt, the ascendancy of Cory Aquino, the series of coups d'etat, and ending only with the rise of Fidel Ramos as president. I witnessed those major events with my own eyes and reported them. In a sense, I became used to conflicts between and among men and institutions. Fast forward to 2019 in Toronto and I am saddled in a squabble so petty it's hard to believe it happened.

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STANDING UP FOR ONESELF - Part 1

The Inevitable Conflict Between Editors

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Disagreement is one thing; disrespect is quite another.” ― Richard V. Reeves

TORONTO - Seven-and-a-half years of hard work, hundreds of articles that could fit at least three volumes of a book, four multi-million-dollar libel suits, four deaths, a considerable number of silent supporters, and a slew of clandestine critics sum up my tenure as an "associate editor" of Balita, the 40-year-old fortnightly tabloid founded by journalist Ruben Cusipag.

I am no swivel chair-newsman. Honestly, I relished being a reporter, commentator, and columnist than being called "associate editor" - the honorific covetously wished by so-called media people in the Filipino community who wanted fancy titles appended to their names to boost their declining self-esteem.

For me, what that designation purported to show was in reality nothing. To the uninitiated, it may sound impressive but, as the saying goes, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating". 

I had nothing to show to deserve such ostentatious appointment because the paper didn't rise up to the meaning of that metaphor. Anyway, my name just magically appeared with that honorific even if I didn't ask for it.

For my YouTube and Vimeo vlogs, however, I am intensely proud to be editor, for I'm fully engrossed in fulfilling real work obligations expected of one holding that position, especially for my blogs - Currents & Breaking News and News in the Six. (Videos at: https://www.youtube.com/user/FilipinoWebChannel#g/u).

Knowing its flair for entertainment and superficial news coverage that relies on press releases and unvetted contributions, Balita was an unlikely choice for my journalism but for this person I respected, Ruben Cusipag, a familiar name then among us journalism students in Manila, who had a deep understanding of what it was to be a journalist. 

I knew he had recognized that my journalism is confrontational, adversarial and no-holds-barred, and merges it with the clarity of light shining through a prism of actuality. 

I don't shelter fear, for to do so would immobilize me and paralyze my reporting. I'm not subservient to anyone - publisher, editor or whatnot - either because that would defeat the very idea of speaking truth to power.

I've embedded this concept in my slogan: "News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody". My belief is that as long as one holds the truth, fear is a nonentity. Like it or not, but that's the basic principle in my journalism practice.

My understanding was that Ruben Cusipag, who passed away six years ago this month, had known those parameters or he would not have been the reputable star reporter of his time. In our journalism class way back, his news articles were among those dissected for their structure, form, substance, and lucidity. 

These are the essential guidelines of news writing at that time when news meant answering the six basic questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Even before he immigrated to Canada during the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Ruben Cusipag was already a popular media institution fighting the dictatorship in the Philippines. 

So it was quite a surprise and a shock to meet him in person for the first time in Toronto on May 2010 at the election of the Philippine Press Club Ontario at the then Quiapo! Quiapo! Restaurant in suburban Scarborough. 

As I was newly-arrived from San Diego, California, an old friend and media colleague, the late Tenny Soriano, had invited me to be there. It was Tenny, then writing for Balita, who introduced me to the wheelchair-bound Ruben, and wife Tess Cusipag. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Wuqttvm9Y).

Ruben had been crippled and had difficulty communicating verbally - a result of a traffic accident, I was told -  but his mind was sharp and crystal clear. He was conveying his feelings by a combination of hand gestures, a wholesome smile and a constant nodding of the head. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8bbS3Ogm5E).

Nearly two years later after that chance meeting, Ruben invited me to write for Balita, his paper, a robust 80-page tabloid he edited and published twice a month. I thought then that he had wanted to change its outlook as it's devoted mainly to entertainment news. (Related story: https://www.balita.ca/despite-all-the-hurdles-balita-stands-firm-in-its-quest-for-the-truth-3/).

In January 2012, Ruben's invitation was confirmed in an announcement in the paper. At the same time, my name appeared in the staff box as an "associate editor" along with two others. My impression was that the position carried some weighty responsibility in running the paper. I was wrong.

Not only once did I suggest some serious changes in layout, design, and news evaluation - proposals I meant to do myself if accepted - but were met with cold indifference by Ruben's wife, Tess Cusipag, who had taken over the management of the paper.

I learned that Tess was, professionally, a teacher in the Philippines before she became Mrs. Cusipag, then later publisher and editor after his death, which, to me, are unenviable positions based on my own experience as a reporter, editor, and publisher of my newspapers in San Diego, and a big challenge for one without a journalism background. 

I wanted to live up to that designation "associate editor" and give it life and meaning. In fact, I coined the phrase "Toronto's largest Filipino newspaper" to show how different Balita was with the rest of the community papers. (Related story at: https://www.balita.ca/the-challenge-of-community-journalism/).

I rationalized that while it's heavy on entertainment fare emanating from Manila, and socials and beauty pageants and the like in the Greater Toronto Area, it also carried solid news about Toronto, its backyard long neglected by the papers.

Through the years, I realized that the position was merely decorative than functional. It's a common practice by the local papers to burnish their image by carrying a long list of so-called staffers, editors, and contributors in their staff boxes who in reality are incompetent deadbeats, aka NPA, or non-performing assets, if assets they are.

Everyone wanted to project the appearance of a well-rounded newspaper, and Balita, sad to say, is one of them. I sought to balance this perception by writing critical stories and exposes of the many wrong-doings in the community. 

(Some stories can still be accessed at: https://www.balita.ca/category/editorial/the-challenge-of-community-journalism/).

With that kind of reportage, the conflict was inevitable. (To be continued)

Writing a Column a Quarter of a Century On

Volume 1, Issue No. 1

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and Currents & Breaking News (CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

Our latest as of Friday, July 19, 2019 

~  The Filipino community and the people who inhabit it never fail to get my juices flowing. Not in a sexist way as might be interpreted by some onion-skinned moralist, but in inspiring creativity and thought. Twenty-six years-long and Prerogative hasn't missed a beat in chronicling the passage of time and events mainly in Canada, the United States and the Philippines. Prerogative is my newspaper column born in California out of a need to take a stand and verbalize personal insights and understanding of local issues.

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PREROGATIVE MARKS 26th YEAR

Writing Newspaper Commentaries a Quarter of a Century On

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”  ― Virginia Woolf

TORONTO - "He who is fearless as he is merciless and spares no one in search of truth and for the sake of it. He whose words are often too deep and strong that people feel only their superficial pain yet fail to comprehend the soothing wisdom that lies within . . . (He) is relentless and indefatigable in his search for truth . . . "

Those words came out of the mighty pen of a former Literature and English professor at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Ms. Yoly Tubalinal, who co-edits and co-publishes the English-language The Fil-Am Weekly MegaScence, a Filipino newspaper in Chicago, with her husband, Bart Tubalinal, a CPA in Illinois.

She wrote that in her column "The Write Connection" to introduce me as I was visiting the Windy City for the first time in July 2007. Though nobody knew me there personally except for some relatives and friends like media colleague Joseph Lariosa, I had a sizable following among Midwest readers who kept track of my column "Password" which ran for years in her paper in the mid-2000s.

In California (San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and Arizona (Phoenix), the column was called "Prerogative". Writing commentaries under that banner was the closest to being a syndicated columnist.

I resumed Prerogative in Toronto in 2010, the year of my arrival. Then in January 2012, it debuted in Balita newspaper. (https://www.balita.ca/category/editorial/the-challenge-of-community-journalism/). I still do it, in fact, with none of the slightest intentions to discontinue it wherever my medium takes me. In my early years here, some publications had a field day publishing the column without my permission. 

Prerogative is strictly an opinion piece, and I mean my considered opinion, on current issues relevant to the Filipino community. Every now and then, the header would appear. Many times, it would be removed to fit the allotted space in newspapers.

Password and Prerogative had attracted both praise and condemnation. But it's in the latter that censure by a selected few has been vehement, mainly because people, friends and foes alike, know me, and see me in person as Toronto has become my base.

I remember this small-time thief, an occasional contributor to a left-leaning rag, who had pleaded with the ethnic media association to wield its influence in sanctioning me for my writing style which he claimed was offending people in the community. Which leads me to ask: what's more offensive, larceny or critical writing?

Not surprisingly, the official repudiated him, explaining that "we do believe in the freedom of expression". Prior to that, the thief had called on the toothless socials-oriented press club to discipline me because my language was allegedly exposing people to ridicule.

Well, in the Filipino community long used to praise and perfunctory coverage of events, reporting the raw truth and analyzing its impact are practically unheard of. Anything that deviates from the usual accolade in their regular reading fare is harsh.

Whether Password or Prerogative or Currents & Breaking News, I never stayed away from the genre I've adhered to from the time (that's shortly before the People Power revolution of 1986) I joined the foreign press corps, i.e., pursue investigative journalism. I did so, am still doing it, at the community level. 

This year, Prerogative is 26 years old; its provenance is San Diego. Chicago-bornPassword is on and off but I hope to revive it when writing for Ontario newspapers. Then there's the 13-year-old Currents & Breaking News, my mainstream outreach.

More than a decade later, Ms. Yoly's words still ring true and her characterization suits to a T. Yes, I could be "relentless and indefatigable". I am actually. It is not just my professional lifestyle, it's how I was reared reporting for a world audience.

No amount of physical threats, intimidation, lawsuits, and harassment could stop me from doing journalism the way it is done mainstream. How I report it is how I see it, how I interpret it, with or without a newspaper to speak of. Print, anyway, is just one medium with a very limited reach. The constraints of geography render it an ineffectual tool to reach out to a global audience.

That situation is exacerbated by the explosion of social media - YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and the like - which poses an existential threat to newspapers and magazines. To cite an example, the millions of views garnered by my YouTube channels would never be duplicated by the combined number of readers of the three community newspapers I had edited and published in San Diego.

It would have taken more than 20 years for each of the paper to reach one million readers, assuming the 10,000 copies circulated monthly is read by a family of four. To compare, my flagship, The Filipino Web Channel, is just nine years old and it has amassed 2,318,440 views and 3,445 subscribers as of this writing. If I add up my three other channels, total views would reach nearly six million.

Geographic boundaries, language barriers, and social status do not affect the online metrics as they would a physical newspaper. The channel just shows up wherever there's internet access anywhere at any time. 

The core difference also lies in the coverage. A news video speaks for itself on the YouTube channel, and it's immediate because it's alive and in real time. A newspaper is passive. The news becomes stale hours after it happens and broadcast or uploaded on social media.

The news loses one basic element in weekly, fortnightly or monthly publications, and that is immediacy. Journalists write feature articles, news analysis, and commentaries to compensate for the loss of spontaneity. Besides, some stories require deeper interpretation and critical analysis to be understood by laypersons.

Column writing is fun. Aside from sharing insights and personal thoughts, the writer could also inject humor through sarcasm and other literary devices. That, in essence, is my Prerogative.#