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

Volume 1, Issue No. 26

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 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).