Volume 2, Issue No. 31
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, October 23, 2020
~ The way to extinction is usually preceded by decay. That's the situation Periodico tabloid now finds itself in. Unable to find good substantive content, it publishes garbage and everything rotten. Well, the latest issue shows that. A hit piece it had published early on was actually a diversion to wean attention away from its cloaked publisher, supposedly, a certain Naomi Ong, who is denounced by creditors and other individuals claiming to be victims of her schemes. One of them, Mae Bentia, has courageously come out with loads of documents to prove Naomi Ong is a rogue.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PUBLISHER, PIRATE OR LIAR-IN-CHIEF?
The Appalling Lies of Naomi Ong
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” ―
TORONTO - "Its tuta tess Cusipag," writes Mae Bentia in her unpolished, true self-expression in an email on Oct. 19, 2020, as a response to a query about an article headlined "Please BEWARE, a victim of Naomi Ong issues warning!" in the Oct. 16-31, 2020, issue of Balita, which carried her byline.
Of course, I know the mistake was inadvertent, a typo. The letters "u" and "i" are close to each other on the keyboard, and writing on a smartphone is a challenge to those with big fingers. Therefore it's not meant to say she's a "tuta" as in puppy, but as a form of respect to mean "tita" or auntie.
I never knew Mae Bentia from wherever, or she of me. Nonetheless, she sought my help early this month and offered loads of evidence to convince me that she has a legitimate claim and grievance against Naomi Ong who had sweet-talked her into giving her money.
Previously, Ms. Bentia's name became familiar only in angry verbal exchanges on Facebook that she took photos of and sent to me. I also saw her name in some flyers. Something that resembled her face was splashed in the first issue of Periodico along with an article that must have been written by another person other than whose byline appears.
Indeed, the article "Eyes on the Lies" by "Allen Hammer, Associate Editor" occupied one-and-half-page with a blown-up photo of Mae Bentia. It was authored by the robotic and cloaked Naomi Ong who passed it on as written by the Florida-based Allen Hammer.
I actually wondered why a poet and writer of Mr. Hammer's caliber would immerse himself in Toronto neighborhood disputes. Well, I found the answer in my files which unequivocally showed it's Naomi Ong's hit piece to put Mae Bentia on the defensive prior to the latter's plan to expose the real Naomi Ong. (Details in another story).
From complaints by individuals in Toronto, London, Ontario; and California, Naomi Ong seems to have a habit of lying. The practice is consistent with news reports about her. Periodico, online and in print, fully reflects the allegation that she's a liar. I personally believe she's a liar through and through.
She reportedly owns the publication but hides it. It has a ghostwriter named sangandaan who is also too scared to reveal his identity. Are they nervous to account for their activities, knowing those could be their undoing?
Periodico carries nothing but the garbage it picks up from dumpsters, and rumors it hears from foulmouths in a slummy resto-bar on Wilson Ave. in Little Manila. It has no identification, no contact phone or email, no office address, no editors or writers, nothing but the claim that it is now in circulation.
Let me just warn my readers: watch out for your purse, especially your identity, Periodico is a runaway freak out to grab anything and everything of value!
But back to Balita and Mae Bentia. Ms. Cusipag's paper appears to be taking the cudgels for Mae Bentia in her confrontation with Naomi Ong, the secretive owner, supposedly, of Periodico, the tabloid I had a hand in forming in its first edition in March. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7JWqL2AUDc).
Both Ms. Cusipag and Ms. Bentia have unresolved issues with Naomi Ong. I personally have mine too, after she stole my articles and photos and published them on Periodico's website without my knowledge and consent. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/10/two-toronto-tabloids-in-war-of-words.html).
Just to be clear, my engagement with Periodico started and ended in the March issue. Stories I had intended for my blog found their way in the paper, particularly its banner story headlined "Who's Afraid of Tess Cusipag?". (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/03/bully-loose-cannon-whos-afraid-of-tess.html)
Mae Bentia explained that she didn't write the Balita article, so it can be assumed that the tabloid must have paid a ghostwriter to compose a story whose "facts" were collected from Bentia's Facebook postings.
Asked if she knew who wrote the article, Ms. Bentia explains, in her own words: "I don't know who is their writer I dont know how to write". She admits, however, that the article "was accurate" enough to reflect her feelings, although its entirety was not hers.
"The bottom was her opinion . And some others was screenshot," Ms. Bentia says. By "her" she meant Ms. Cusipag and by "bottom" she referred to the tail end of the article.
Ms. Bentia's responses to my questions, though laden with mistakes that are understandable, were sincere and spontaneous. Even as she struggled with her answers, she sounds honest and credible. I believe her, which, to be candid, I can not say of Naomi Ong.
"Naomi should be exposed so she will stop her tactics and scheme especially people are now suffering," she says, explaining how she became her unsuspecting victim. "All I want is Naomi to be in jail so I can have peace of mind".
With receipts and other documents on her hand in support of her allegations, Ms. Bentia claimed Naomi Ong tricked her and took her money. She also preyed on gullible Filipinos on Facebook, like Ms. Emma Villamil of Manteca, California.
She says: "Naomi is not an honest woman. And she has no good reputation because of all money issues and lots of court cases . . . running away and not paying the money, she has insolvency and still trying to use the restaurant as her front."
Ms. Ong has not replied to questions about workers not being paid in a restaurant in London, Ontario, and whose tips she allegedly purloined.
Early this month, Mae Bentia asked for a meeting to present her side of the article "Eyes on the Lies" published in March in Periodico. I now remember reviewing that article Naomi Ong had submitted for grammar and spelling. I did not edit it, believing Naomi Ong knew the basics.
At that time, it had no byline. I thought it was her personal recollection of an incident, so I was just casually reading it. She was doing the layout and didn't say where she was going to put the article.
When the paper came out, the article had the byline of Allen Hammer. Poor guy, does he even know he's now complicit in another of Naomi Ong's barefaced deception? (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).
No comments:
Post a Comment