Volume 2, Issue No. 5
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 Monday, August 3, 2020
~ The coronavirus pandemic was the perfect rationale for the going away of Taste of Manila (ToM) street festival sometime this month. Its staging this year, supposedly the sixth in as many years, had already been in doubt because of monetary difficulties and personal animosities among its officials. People wondered how a phenomenally successful community venture such as ToM could not stand on its own without financial assistance from various sources, including the City of Toronto. What went wrong?
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TO STOP THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS
Toronto Cancels Taste of Manila, Other Events
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“If we’re really to give ourselves the best of ourselves, we have to be honest with the worst of ourselves.”
― TORONTO - By this time or earlier, the frenzy builds up for what's indisputably the largest Filipino street festival in North America - the phenomenal Taste of Manila (ToM).
Since 2014 and up to 2019, ToM had commanded attention. Corporate entities, mom & pop stores, struggling entrepreneurs, the city government, and some of its agencies extended financial and in-kind support that guaranteed its staging for two days.
Five years and nasty in-fighting among its officers later, ToM is no more. It's dead by selfish interests and incompetence. It's gone by individual greed. The non-profit organization Philippine Cultural Community Centre (PCCC) that was initially behind it had disbanded because of conflicting interests of its members.
Then came another, the Philippine Legacy and Cultural Alliance (PLACA), also a non-profit organization, which seemed to be linked to a Toronto subsidiary of the recently-shuttered ABS-CBN broadcast network. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1cIFfkpnQI).
Its Facebook account said that PLACA "aims to inspire the community to build and serve a strong, meaningful, and respectable Filipino-Canadian society through its community programs and cultural events".
PLACA's entry saw the ouster of top officials and created a new set of officers to handle ToM. It's basically a changing of the guards.
In 2019, ToM, now under PLACA, had what one official called "the best ToM" festival because of its partnership with ABS-CBN's The Filipino Channel. "Everything was managed well, and all outstanding payables settled," it was explained.
ToM's unsurprising departure pre-dated the arrival of the novel coronavirus and the disease (COVID-19) it carries. With the virus still omnipresent, ToM's exit is a done deal. (Additional story at: https://www.balita.ca/taste-of-manila-goes-distasteful-one-street-festival-and-three-financial-reports/).
ToM was ailing badly and gasping for breath in 2018, almost deprived of life, until Toronto Mayor John Tory and Councillor James Pasternak resuscitated it by extending undetermined financial assistance and waiving some fees due to the city.
"We're not prepared to let Taste of Manila go by the wayside," the mayor declared then, sounding more optimistic that it would continue on and on in the years to come. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-PmytZ9wDE)
And so on the weekend of Aug. 17 and 18, 2018, ToM was on the Bathurst-Wilson streets again in the Little Manila corridor of Pasternak's North York district. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nICEcg3G0us).
Amidst the massive street dancing, the songs, and the food, little did people realize that it would be the second to the last ToM event they would be part of. The circumstances leading up to 2018's staging was already symptomatic of the many problems, financial or otherwise, that had afflicted it. (Videos at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5Ji9YdqUP0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5bqjpeNJps).
Mayor Tory's positive attitude would be set aside as the coronavirus pandemic was far from being licked. As of July 30, 2020, Toronto's latest available data has listed 15,371 confirmed cases; 13,892 recovered cases; and 1,158 deaths.
"To slow the spread of COVID-19, the City of Toronto is extending the cancellation of City-led and City-permitted major festivals and events with attendance of 25,000 or more (including Taste of Manila) through August 31," a press statement furnished The Filipino Web Channel said.
"The decision x x x has been made in consultation with Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, the Emergency Operations Centre, Toronto Police Service, and major event organizers, and supports the directive that physical distancing is critical to stopping the spread of COVID-19," it added.
Mayor Tory has announced that the City will repurpose grant funding previously approved by City Council, in order to support festivals that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City's Cultural Festivals Recovery Program, he explained, will provide financial and in-kind support to defray financial losses for festivals that were canceled due to COVID-19.
A new group named Philippine Events and Services Ontario (PESO) has surfaced and appears to have taken the mantle to continue with ToM, even virtually, and changed it to "The Taste of Manila" or TToM. (https://www.thetasteofmanila.com/support-us).
I thought its acronym, PESO, was a fitting representation for money, the peso being the official currency of the Philippines. Apropos of its mandate, PESO is seeking community involvement by selling membership to the tune of $1,000 for a gold card; $500 for silver; and $300 for bronze.
It looks like an expensive undertaking. Why? Well, for comparison, a four-year membership with Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) is $250.00, or $62.50 per year, and I got to learn investigative reporting tips and given access to its resource center and specialized training. The Toronto-based National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada charges a membership fee of $50 a year for professional journalists.
"Get involve and become an Affiliate member and support make our community grow," reads its website blurb. "As Filipinos, we owe it to ourselves to foster our good culture in every part of the world. That being said, let’s start with this festival and be united to make a difference and be of help to other nationalities as we celebrate this festivity".
Whether this game plan is a fundraiser or not is not clear. The question now is who benefits? (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).
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