Friday 31 January 2020

Who in Toronto Are the Real Swindlers?

Volume 1, Issue No. 27

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, January 31, 2020

~ For the very first time, I hear about a group that calls itself "Elite Crusaders". Three Toronto tabloids religiously propagate the name without identifying the people or organization acting on its behalf. Google search was not of any help either, which implied that it could be a fly-by-night venture, or that it was brought into the community to foster deceit.

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YOU BE THE JUDGE

Elite Scammers or Elite Crusaders?

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Deceivers are the most hideous creatures in the world” ― Munia Khan

TORONTO - I'm almost tempted to conclude that after reading it, the story was in itself a scam, a substantially deceptive nonsense, a flimflam, as the dictionary says.

I refer to an article in Balita's Feb. 1-15, 2020 issue bylined by a "T. Cusipag" who presumably is Tess Cusipag, the paper's publisher and editor, headlined "IWAS SCAM, Elite Crusaders to help" on page 2.

A byline is an important component in journalism if only to highlight the credibility and newsworthiness of a story. For example, seeing the byline of reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in an article makes one confident that what they wrote was the product of assiduous investigation.

One knew they could be trusted with reporting the truth, as in their investigative reporting for the Washington Post of the Watergate scandal that culminated in the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in the early 70s. Theirs was the stuff of good journalism.

For journalists, having a byline is most coveted. A bylined article presupposes that it passed the smell test, meaning it complied with the basic hurdles of journalism, and is impeccably sourced, fully-researched, well-written, balanced, credible, authentic.

T. Cusipag's article was remiss in many counts; it's practically covering up the most salient parts of what went through during the recent IWAS SCAM forum where a Toronto Police detective, Constable Dana Clark, was reportedly the main speaker.

Given that T. Cusipag (why didn't she spell out her full name and title? was she afraid or distrustful of her own account?) is not a journalist, her lapses may be understandable. But she's the "editor" of Balita, supposedly, so her deficiencies are multiplied over.

She writes, and I quote verbatim: "There has been an enormous number of hopeless victims of different rackets known to man in our community that are (sic) crying out for justice because their hard earned savings were taken away from them fraudulently and they are hopeless of getting them back or to get justice".

I thought it was a regurgitation of a masturbated article by a copycat named Edwin Mercurio. Incidentally, where was this guy who was listed as "writer/court representative" in the IWAS SCAM poster? The original poster carried the name of one "Atty. Robert Christie" who apparently backed off as one of two invited speakers and replaced at the last minute by "Delano Europa Justice of the Peace".

T. Cusipag continues, and I quote verbatim again: "So this is when Elite Crusaders was born. A group of professionals organized to aid the helpless. Their mandate is to deal with the lowest and worst type of people, the scammers, swindlers and criminals preying on the vulnerable of our community and to guide the victims for obtaining justice".

I smell some fish here. If this "group of professionals" (really?) is working for a noble cause, why wouldn't the writer identify them and give us background information about the organization? Is it because some of its members are actually the elite scammers themselves?

I'm bothered by her claim that, and I quote: "Elite Crusaders also provide cheap accommodations for out of town victims x x x when they come to Toronto to file their complaints x x x . Elite Crusaders will provide you with a FREE lawyer so come out and one of the members will accompany you so you are not exploited even more . . . "

It sounds like a gratuitous solicitation, isn't it? Who is financing this group if indeed it can cater to complainants with accommodations and a free lawyer?

Now let's jump to the 10th paragraph of T. Cusipag's story, and I quote verbatim again: "Another speaker a well - known paralegal and who is aiming for the bar narrated that there is one immigration exploiters that he rates as the summa cum laude of all the scammers here in the community. This lady was able to recruit from all over the world".

Clearly, T. Cusipag is being disingenuous here. She conceals the identity of both the paralegal and the alleged scammer but she enables the paralegal to make the comment without accountability.

In the original and revised poster published online, the name of "Jun Saludares licence paralegal" appears with two others, including the copycat Edwin Mercurio, as "anti-scam advocates & resource people".

I assume this "Jun Saludares" is the same Dominador "Jun" Saludares who was suspended by the Law Society Tribunal in December 2018 for committing professional misconduct. I saw his face in a video about the January 26 event. (More info at: https://lawsocietytribunal.ca/OrderAndReasons/Saludares%20(2018-12-17).pdf).

The Tribunal's order reads: "Mr. Saludares committed professional misconduct by acting in circumstances where he ought to have known that he was being used to facilitate dishonesty, fraud, or illegal conduct, failing to comply with client verification requirements, and acting outside the scope of his P1 paralegal licence. His licence is suspended for three months, and he is ordered to pay $5,000 in costs to the Law Society".

Saludares represented the six Filipino temporary workers who had escaped from their employer and sought asylum in Canada. These workers were found to have lied in their testimony against Lily Hammer whose court cases were eventually dropped by the Crown for lack of evidence. (Full story and video at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2019/12/liwayway-miranda-aka-lily-hammer-gets.html; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JSfIOTN0uk).

Obviously T. Cusipag did not mention anything about Saludares because she knew it would undermine his reputation especially that he is "aiming for the bar". Professional misconduct is such a bad appendage to anyone's name.

In the January 16-21, 2020 issue of Balita, a one-fourth page coloured ad on page 19 showed that IWAS SCAM forum had for media partners T. Cusipag's Balita, Pinoy News, CWSS, and Filipino Bulletin.

What's quite revealing here is CWSS, which is actually CWSS Immigration Services Inc., a regular advertiser of Balita, whose "president/CEO" is Chito Collantes aka Dr. Chito Collantes. My sources claimed Collantes is the founder of Elite Crusaders and one of the organizers of IWAS SCAM. In fact, he spoke there.

According to Lily Hammer, she did business with Collantes for two months in 2011 and invested $20,000 in his recruitment agency (is that CWSS?).

"On January 2012 when I came back to Toronto (from Florida where she met with her husband), all my money that I invested were gone," Ms. Hammer explains. "He used my name to get money from applicants. And used my money for his personal needs," she adds

It must be this business association that had prompted Tess Cusipag to say that Ms. Hammer "lived with him (Collantes) before" without offering any proof. Ms. Hammer firmly denies the allegation.

Ms. Cusipag is also Collantes' loyal protector. Once she wrote in defense of him: " . . . at least he is not fraud" when asked why he affixes "Dr." to his name.

Another organizer of Elite Crusaders is a suspected sexual predator. A very much married man, he allegedly tried to rape a woman blogger in a hotel room where they were supposed to have a business meeting.

Monday 27 January 2020

Meaningful Day for a Dedicated Community Leader

Volume 1, Issue No. 27

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Monday, January 27, 2020

~ Mainstream recognition is hard to come by especially for Canada's visible minorities. But when it is extended, it overflows with genuine affection and respect. That was what happened to Teresa M. Torralba, the original Batangas native and brains behind such successes as Filipinos Making Waves Festival and Taste of Manila street festival, and of course, the feel-good Waves newspaper. When she marked her 60th birthday on Saturday, January 25, 2020, friends in Canada's Parliament took a pause and celebrated with her.

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AS TERESA M. TORRALBA TURNS 60

Priceless Gifts Worth Keeping

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

'Tell me what company you keep and I'll tell you what you are". - Miguel de Cervantes

TORONTO - Teresa Torralba celebrates her birthday and the community celebrates with her. Why?

Families and friends, friends of friends and just about everyone who knew her came for one splendid night of camaraderie and enjoyment in one of the unostentatious birthday bashes I've attended in the Greater Toronto Area.

By practice in the socials-oriented Filipino community, the event was low-key; it was more of an indoor get-together of kindred souls than a grandiose display of opulence notable in Filipino parties.

There was absolutely no pretense of showing off, no attempt to look impressive, nothing to overwhelm the attendees with an abundance of food, expensive pieces of jewelry, long-winding speeches and luxurious clothes. And, if I may add, no beauty queens with glittering crowns and large sashes.

Age sixty opens a new threshold, and that was it for Teresa who, looking fortyish at first glance, turned magically 60 on January 23, and celebrated the milestone on Saturday, January 25, 2020. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjtVTEwqyS0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjtVTEwqyS0).

Her richness was in being surrounded by family and extended families beyond the merger of the Mendoza and Torralba clans of Batangas, the province known for its distinctive ala eh long before Canada had its interjection eh. Ala eh, eh!

They were all there plus countless other acquaintances, confidants, and trusted people whose names need not be mentioned. (Toronto-based musical artists Alyssa Datu, Maria Panaligan and Isabella Santiago pay musical tribute to Teresa with their soulful rendition of the megahit love song Pers Lab composed by Mon Torralba: https://youtu.be/k6b8B2MvhTg).

I personally think many people mistake a gaudy festivity for success, even associating extravagance as public acceptance than with austere simplicity in marking the birth anniversary, which was what Teresa's occasion was all about.

In the end, what mattered was not so much the number of guests as the caliber of people who were there.

"Tell me who your friends are, and I tell you who you are," the adage reminds us, and it speaks well of the company she keeps since debuting years ago in Toronto's social and political scenes through her famed Filipinos Making Waves Festival at Yonge-Dundas Square, the feel-good Waves newspaper, and acting behind the curtain - actually the brains of it all - in the phenomenal Taste of Manila street festival.

I felt lucky to have made it on her list of invitees, for it gave me the occasion to rub shoulders with people I only see in the news, the decision-makers themselves, and lesser mortals who invigorate the community.

Ordinarily, in news coverages, it is a necessity to ask questions and talk with people in the know, for example, Members of Parliament like Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development; Marco Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship; and Salma Zahid, the lawmaker responsible for creating Filipino Heritage Month in Canada.

Mendicino was gushing with thanks in articulating the sense of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the government of Canada acknowledging Teresa's involvement in events that promote active community participation. "On behalf of the Prime Minister and the government of Canada, we are very grateful for all your contributions and for everything you do . . . " Mendicino stressed. (Video at: https://youtu.be/5fO_sSpKGuk).

But Teresa's was a private event, yet the three MPs graced the occasion with their presence - a subtle expression of support and a recognition of her leadership in the expanding Filipino Canadian community. It's even more significant when viewed in a personal context.

Respect begets respect, and with it comes genuine affection. Teresa got them so handily on this special occasion, and not just from every Tom, Dick, and Harry, but from men and women of power and influence. Those are the gifts worth treasuring forever. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Friday 17 January 2020

'Little Manila' Is Where Rogues, Rumours, Fake News Abound

Volume 1, Issue No. 26

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, January 17, 2020

~ In a neighbourhood like Toronto's Filipino community, there will always be rogues and scam artists roaming freely, networking, and trying to gain social acceptance by spreading rumors and fake news. One such rumor came about recently, followed through by the proliferation of unsourced and unattributed stories quoting Philippine diplomatic officials in Canada that essentially attack a legitimate business concern. Are those driven by personal grudges, pure envy or secret business interests?

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DOES A 'DR.' MAKE ONE A DOCTOR, A CAMERA A JOURNALIST?

Community Rogues, Rumours, and Fake News

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it . . . " - Jonathan Swift

TORONTO - He loves to call himself "doctor" and encourages others to address him as such. This declaration of self-importance gives him an air of dignity and intoxicates his being. In print, he uses the prefix "Dr." like people who are schooled and licensed to engage in the practice of healing.

Another dude goes around wearing a shirt emblazoned with the name of a press association to make sure he's recognized as a "journalist" or a press photographer so there's no mistaking he does not belong to the old I-take-your-picture-for-a-fee gang hanging around parks.

I could not bring myself to call this guy a "Dr.", (pardon me 'coz I might have in some videos for not knowing enough then) or the other guy a "photojournalist" for just looking at them makes me nauseous. I truly wonder how they could succeed in manipulating imagery for their personal glorification.

For example, how has he evolved into a "Dr." if he is truly one? In fairness, my sources tell me this "Dr." paid an obscure Manila school (defunct a long time ago), $500 to get himself an honorary doctoral degree in what? We don't know.

Does membership in a social club make a camera-carrying guy a photojournalist when all he knows is to point a camera at people, illuminate them with blinding lights, and take pictures in his usual firing-squad pose?

Both are impersonators, that's one thing sure, and their motives could be surmised only from their actions.

My attention is focused on them now after finding out that their mouths identify them better than what they do publicly. From their dirty mouths emanate the canard of a relationship, mine supposedly, with a prominent entrepreneur.

The gossip has been passed on from one monger to another in hushed tones, and by the time it reached me in San Diego, my former hometown in California where I took a five-week sabbatical recently, it sounded like a hot, plausible story.

Even as the alleged originators, the "Dr.", and the photog, suffer from a credibility problem, the rumour continues to persist.

Friends who heard the story were disbelieving. However, one who ought to know better was, in fact, being swayed already to swallow the dubious story hook, line and sinker because of friendship with the talebearer. It's sad.

These Toronto blabbermouths are not exactly faultless. For instance, the brazen act of affixing "Dr." before his name is perhaps the best indicator of the kind of person he is - given to concealing his true colour in order to gain some respectability in promoting his business.

It's a disgrace to the profession of medicine and to the academe to have somebody used that prefix either as a job or a title, which in this case, is neither true. He simply fancies it, and because no one complains, he attaches it to his name.

The other guy, on the other hand, is a regular fixture in community events. While he takes pictures, he occupies center stage and makes himself a nuisance to others, thus he's essentially a photo bomber.

I noticed upon my return to Toronto that the rumor and the teasing had gone wild. To ease my mind, some friends identified the persons they first heard it from. While I hesitated initially to dignify it, the teasing would not stop.

In the story that I got wind of, another alleged whisperer was Rolly Mangante, the self-proclaimed founder of the Taste of Manila street festival. I knew him from a few years ago as the person who chauffeured officials at the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto where he had been employed and retired.

Our paths crossed one recent weekend at the Bathurst-Wilson area. Once he offered a handshake to greet me, I asked him why he was badmouthing his recent former employer, not the consulate, and implicating me in the process because of stories I wrote about her and her company.

Stuff of journalism is beyond the grasp of Rolly, that I dare say, but he could be a good taleteller to those who would lend a sympathetic ear. And to convince his listeners, he would readily show off a three-inch binder he carries around purportedly containing confidential materials about this and that organization and individuals.

He was quick to deny any role in the rumor-mongering. Teary-eyed, he repeatedly and strongly disclaimed any participation and put the blame instead on this "Dr.".

It was impossible to connive with the "Dr.", Rolly explained, because he had a falling-out with him over personal and other matters related to the Taste of Manila festival.

I don't know whether to believe Rolly or not. Sometimes he speaks with two tongues, saying one thing and doing another. Friends say he has bipolar disorder. The same is true with this "Dr."

He swore, in the name of his family, that he was telling the truth; that it was not him who was spreading the rumor; that it was "Dr." who concocted it.

Maybe, maybe not. A friend informs me the rumour was also coming out from the fake photojournalist who has exaggerated and embellished it to the point of being ridiculous.

Interestingly, just as the rumor was spreading, unattributed online stories, which in reality are fake news, made their way into anonymous websites attacking Rolly's former employer who had hired him soon after he had been retired from the consulate.

It's a wonder why Rolly would run against his boss considering that he was enjoying a life of comfort there driving people to their workplaces. His employer had given him a nice Mercedes Benz sedan and an iPhone, at least, that concealed the true nature of his work and made him look like an executive. The perks were chiefly for his personal use.

The sudden proliferation of fake news against Rolly's erstwhile employer and Rolly's ties with the consulate could not just be coincidental - that's what I believe.

My suspicion is so strong as to advance the view that some people in Philippine diplomatic posts in Canada and in their attached agencies are behind the fake news. I am still looking deeply into the motive. Could Rolly have been feeding them with disinformation?

A year or two ago, I had an encounter with this "Dr.". I forgot the occasion but he was there with five of his friends, including Rolly, and the wife of a member of Philippine Press Club Ontario.

The "Dr." was telling a story to the orgasmic delight of his captive listeners, especially when he mentioned the equivalent in Tagalog of the "F" word as smoothly as he can without regard for courtesies to the woman. I felt sorry for her.

In civil conversations, it's unbecoming to say the "k-word" even if it seems acceptable to say its English counterpart. Perhaps it's the sound of it. I don't know. To "Dr.", however, it was probably part of his everyday vocabulary.

Which brings me to the point of this essay. If "Dr." had no qualms being pretentious and impolite, concocting tall-tales would not be unthinkable. He is an out-and-out rogue. Birds of the same feather . . . ? you bet they are - the "Dr." and the photog! (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Friday 10 January 2020

Trial and Condemnation by Publicity

Volume 1, Issue No. 25

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, January 10, 2020

~ Based on what has happened a month ago, our confidence in the ability of a local tabloid to report the truth has been shaken by a show of willful ignorance and gross incompetence. The dishonesty is glaring. The tabloid makes a vow to defend the truth to the death, but that's more in the breach than in the practice. Some editors and writers speak with a forked tongue, some behave like they're beyond reproach. To pledge and then forsake it for fear of being found is worst.

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QUICK TO JUDGE, ADAMANT TO RECTIFY

A Tabloid's Rejective Reporting

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Plato

TORONTO - When reporter Nicolas Keung wrote a story about a decision of a Small Claims Court judge against businesswoman Liwayway Miranda aka Lily Hammer which Toronto Star published on March 7, 2019, Teresita Cusipag, publisher and editor of Balita, the community's photo album and entertainment tabloid, was ecstatic.

She could hardly contain her euphoria. Her enthusiasm was electric, in fact, as she instantly emailed friends asking for a picture of Ms. Miranda without telling them that it would be used to go along Keung's article which she was reprinting in her paper.

Deputy Judge Michael Bay had ordered Ms. Miranda and her company, A&L Hammer Workforce Management, to return the $14,000 she charged five migrant workers. In addition, the judge awarded them $6,000 in punitive damage and $20,000 in general damage. She was also asked to pay $3,350 in legal costs.

I hesitated to touch the news of that decision, first, because I wasn't there when it was handed down; second, I did not have the documents in my possession; and third, I was busy doing a bigger story - the fraud and forgery charges leveled by 36 complainants who claimed losing $300,000 in remittances against the couple Jesus "Jess" Mallari and Teresita Mallari, owners of the remittance company Mabini Express Inc.

Ms. Cusipag was quick to republish Keung's article, so that a week after it appeared in Toronto Star on March 7, Balita had it published in its March 16-31, 2019, issue. Ms. Miranda's coloured photo appeared with a brief caption on page 1, and another picture of her accompanying the main story on page 11.

It was not the first time Ms. Miranda's coloured portrait landed on Balita's front page. In its May 16-31 2019, issue, she was there again alongside the headline of a rehashed story, this time by the copycat "guest writer" Edwin Mercurio. His masturbated article was on page 10 with her picture again.

In a span of at least three issues, Ms. Miranda's image and narrative occupied a place of prominence in Balita. Notwithstanding factual mistakes in Mercurio's sloppy writeup, Balita kept running the story to the point that Ms. Cusipag was already painting Ms. Miranda as a fraud. " . . . MANLOLOKO PA RIN, SCAMMER PA RIN, CROOK PA RIN," was how she puts it.

By April 2019, or soon after the publication in Toronto Star, Ms. Cusipag started calling Ms. Miranda as "Lily Scammer". In June, she raised it even more, writing that, and I quote: "Lily Scammer is Lily Hammer the fraud and scammer".

Fast track to December 11, 2019, and all the unwarranted labeling by Ms. Cusipag proved wrong. On that day, the Superior Court of Ontario junked all, repeat all, the charges against Ms. Miranda, including human trafficking and misrepresentation. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QprwiFQiLjs).

On the same day, the Toronto Star published the news account of that decision by reporter Nicolas Keung who covered the event. A CityNews Toronto reporter published his story online within hours of the withdrawal by Crown prosecutors.

I sent out a nine-paragraph story later in the afternoon after concluding a long interview with Ms. Miranda and her supporters and joined them for lunch at a downtown cafeteria. By wire standards, my story was already late, in fact, way, way late if I were reporting for an international news agency. But I was writing for my blogs and I had the luxury of time.

Between December 11 and the usual deadline in Balita of at least three days before the issue date, there was ample time to write and publish the news development in Superior Court which practically freed Ms. Hammer from any accountability.

But who in Balita would write and report it? Edwin Mercurio? But it's neither fiction nor entertainment, by the way, it's a true story relating to law. No way would I entrust it to him if I were his editor. His copy would surely end up in the garbage bin, to be candid about it.

That left Ms. Cusipag with the choice of reprinting Keung's latest story in Toronto Star, as her usual practice. But why didn't she do it?

So, in its December 16-31, 2019, issue - that's nine months after the offending article came out in March - Balita, the tabloid that vowed "to publish the truth nothing but the truth x x x till the day we die!" was false-hearted.

No word about the court's decision clearing Ms. Miranda can be found in any of its 80 pages. Why the sudden apathy? Was it because it favoured Ms. Miranda whom the court exonerated?

There was another opportunity to live up to its declaration that states, and I quote: "There is no price tag for integrity, principle and fairness. We vow to fight for those beliefs and defend them . . . " Fairness? My foot!

Having missed the December 2019 issue, I was hoping to find a republication of Keung's article, if not, at least a decent writeup not necessarily by the copycat Mercurio, reporting the big story of the dropping of all charges against Ms. Miranda in Balita's January 1-15, 2020 issue. If Balita is truly fair, it owes Ms. Miranda that much.

But it didn't happen. I don't see it happening. It seems Balita would rather leave its readers wondering if the accusations against Ms. Miranda were truly withdrawn by the Crown for lack of evidence.

My sense is that Balita would stick to its perverted reporting no matter how egregious the mistakes are. "Balita will continue to publish the truth nothing but the truth x x x till the day we die!" That must be a joke. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Wednesday 8 January 2020

3 in 1: Who Is 'Amba,' 'Congen,' 'Consul' of Little Manila?

Volume 1, Issue No. 24

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Wednesday, January 8, 2020

~ What would have been a significant workers' support system in Ontario by a Filipino company was nipped in the bud by other Filipinos envious of its lucrative earning potential. As it now appears, an orchestrated campaign to put down the owners and the business itself is being untangled by people who knew. The ultimate comeuppance occurred when the Superior Court trashed the complaints against the businesswoman, thus exposing the evil minds behind the stunt.

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WEAPONIZING TASTE OF MANILA FESTIVAL

Dismissal Triggers Revenge

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“A deceitful tongue will always be good at twisting the truth.” ― Dennis Adonis

TORONTO - Over the last six years, the sole community event that has grown by leaps and bounds was the Taste of Manila (ToM) street festival in what has now come to be known as Little Manila in the city's North York district.

Since 2014, the number of attendees has defied traditional expectations, rising exponentially from then to an all-time high in 2019 of 400,000 people by the most conservative of estimates. Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2019-08-23T11:00:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=14&by-date=false(Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nICEcg3G0us).

ToM made a name for itself, easily turning its annual observance into a place to be seen and heard, particularly for politicians courting voter support and for talents aspiring for that moment of fame.

It has also generated a lot of business for the established and struggling ventures, which leads to the question of why ToM seems to be saddled with financial problems from the get-go.

In 2018, Toronto Mayor John Tory rescued it from sure catastrophe organizers had blamed on the huge financial drain on its resources, if such existed at all. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3djfjNVR8Q).

From ToM's inception to public staging, the undisputed founder is the middle-aged Rolly Mangante, a retired employee at the Philippine Consulate in Toronto. His work had afforded him access to meetings where his main principal - in his case, the Philippine consul general - was involved.

One such gathering was the consultation between Toronto police authorities headed by former Chief Bill Blair (now Member of Parliament), Superintendent Jane Wilcox, Sergeant Philip Mendoza, and the then Consul General Pedro Chan, on the feasibility of holding a Filipino festival in the city.

How Mangante ended up being there among top officials was inexplicable, after all, he was just a minor functionary at the consulate. He explained in an interview in July 2014 that the idea of a taste of Manila was already being discussed as early as December 2008 but didn't get enough traction. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHSJbnIkH7M)

From what he said at that time, it appeared that the authorities were lukewarm to the festival. So the proposal laid dormant for years until Mangante took it upon himself to revive it and claimed ownership although the original idea was not his.

Mangante did not exactly create ToM. On the contrary, it was ToM that begot him. Without meaning to boast, I must admit here and now that I contributed significantly to Mangante's emergence as a recognized community leader.

His old job at the consulate gave him some prestige both real and imagined. Punsters mocked him as "ambassador" or "congen" (consul general). Caregivers interviewed for this story said he told them to call him "consul". Either way, Mangante dressed up for a post he never had in actuality. Appearances mattered and he knew it.

My video of the August 2016 ToM where Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the main guest had life-changing impact for Mangante. It established him after Mr. Trudeau, in a rousing speech before a big crowd in Little Manila, called him "Tito Rolly". For the rest of the Liberal MPs in the Greater Toronto Area, he was Tito Rolly. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8EHGFKIKsw).

As a matter of fact, Mangante capitalized on that video to win over sponsors from the Philippines for the August 2017 staging of ToM. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHamEsgMYmI).

One of ToM's major sponsors that year was A&L Hammer Workforce Management, whose owners - the couple Allan and Lily Hammer aka Liwayway Miranda - were present during the two-day event in Little Manila.

Mangante was already hired as a driver for the Toronto-based firm. He was given a decent salary, a Mercedes Benz sedan for both his personal and professional use, an iPhone, among other perks. Several months later, January 2018 to be exact, Ms. Hammer fired him.

Apparently, all the while Mangante had been snooping into the company's operations. He was suspected of feeding information to a fledgling labor recruitment office of which he was supposedly an investor. As things turned out, he was a proxy for people who have no status in Canada.

Mangante did not take his dismissal kindly. He had to take his revenge.

In April 2018, A&L Hammer Workforce Management hosted a gala ball for guests and supporters to celebrate the opening of its agricultural training centre. Among the guests were Philippine Congressmen Roy Loyola and Maximo Rodriguez Jr. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WONotKxTTWw).

Canadian officials who earlier graced the 2017 ToM and met with the Hammers, among them MPs Marco Mendicino, Michael Levitt, and Ahmed Hussein; Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne; and Toronto Mayor John Tory, were noticeably absent in the affair.

Mangante appeared to have succeeded in dissuading them from attending what was to have been a landmark support system in Canada for Filipino overseas workers. He had wormed his way by guile into their confidence and managed to convince them to boycott the event.

According to people who saw and heard him, Mangante was bragging about his success in denigrating Ms. Hammer, his former employer, and her company, which stood in the way of the recruitment firm Mangante and friends were putting up.

Ms. Hammer said the snub by Canadian officials was connected with Mangante's sacking. "He wanted to get even," she explained.

But this whole episode was just part of a bigger picture which emerged bit by bit later. Out of the blue came wild accusations that Ms. Hammer was engaged in human trafficking and misrepresentation - allegations fanned by people linked to Mangante and his aborted business venture.

On December 11, 2019, all the imputations against Ms. Hammer came to naught. The Superior Court of Ontario threw them away, convinced by the Crown that no evidence exists to prosecute her and a colleague.

Mangante, meanwhile, goes around selling his stolen idea of the Taste of Manila this year. Would his friends who call him "Tito Rolly" still support him after finding out that he's working against the community's interests and promoting his secret agenda? Why is Taste of Manila not earning anything? (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).