Volume 2, Issue No. 29
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, October 19, 2020
~ The ghost of what pretends to be a newspaper and an online site appears to be the dying gasps of something on the way to full extinction. Periodico, the local news and photo pirate of the internet, has nothing to show for who runs it or who the people are behind it. It just sticks out occasionally like a pus-filled sore thumb. A laptop-carrying Naomi Ong, allegedly a notorious personality in the Filipino community, is its known owner who is too shy (or afraid?) to come out openly. Why? Does she fear being recognized? Is Periodico inhabited by grifters?
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TORONTO'S ONLINE PIRATE
The Catastrophic Fall of Periodico Tabloid
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. ” ―
TORONTO - My deliberate decision to leave Periodico tabloid must have been catastrophic for the people who had begged me to sit as its editor-in-chief in March, the month it had its first 24-page print issue.
Its disastrous fall from a pedestal I had planned and built to shelter it was distressing, more so for my secretive partners who had viewed it, as I learned later, as a counterpunch to the rotten attacks by a photo album tabloid and envious Facebook adversaries.
After that one edition and the coronavirus pandemic struck far and wide warranting quarantines and lockdowns, the paper went dead. When I got wind of reports that some of my principals were shenanigans in hiding - grifters allegedly - I had decided that I wasn't going to revive it when the moment came. Operating in the shadows was not the way to run a paper.
It had been financially ailing from the beginning, a situation worsened by sheer incompetence and absolute lack of knowledgeable people to carry out the tasks I've had unnecessarily put on my shoulder as I excitedly wanted to restart my engagement with the community through the printed word.
In fact, I called it, proudly, as my second wind, the first being in San Diego, California where I had published and edited three of my own community newspapers, namely, Diario Veritas, Philippine Village Voice, and The District Times. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/03/shining-light-on-misdeeds-has-its.html).
Then in mid-August or five months after the March issue, came an email from Naomi Ong, supposedly my main partner, saying in her own words: "hi romy, time to resume circulation of Periódico on Aug 31st back to circulation na tayo."
I was in disbelief, and replied: "If you're serious about it, I want to be paid in advance. I'll work after I receive payment". She retorted that she would pay half and half; the first half within two days, and the second half 15 days later, presumably after the paper has gone out.
She explained: "we can only afford that amount for now due to the ongoing pandemic, we are not really getting any monetary return out of all this, we just wanna let out the truth and expose the real crooks".
I don't know who the "real crooks" she referenced were. They must be her personal enemies, and she's getting back at them through the paper. But I insisted on getting paid the full amount first. She said she can't because of other bills in and outside of her household.
I refused to do anything. Then she responded: "Periódico will still be circulating on august 31 no matter what the financial situation is. we will be ready paying you probably on the 3rd issue". I told her then: "That's fine, just take my name out of it". She quickly answered: "there will be no staff box".
I had thought that the planned August issue didn't come out. In the last week of September, I discovered that Periodico had been using all my copyrighted articles and photos from the months of April, May, June, July, August, and September without informing me or getting my permission. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7JWqL2AUDc).
I was seething with anger. No mass thievery of this sort had happened to my intellectual property until now. And to add insult to injury, Periodico made it looked like my articles were exclusive to them. Lately, I also caught another tabloid published a photo I took during an interview and refused to pay for its unauthorized use.
Naomi Ong is a nondescript person I had never heard of in my decades-long experience as a journalist. I know practically everyone in the media here in Toronto and some in the United States and the Philippines to the extent that I could distinguish the real journalists from the pretenders out for an easy buck.
To be honest, I was resisting news reports that showed a Naomi Ong being involved in some sort of scams in at least two places, one in London, Ontario, and in the Greater Toronto Area. By her looks, it's rather unseemly that this Naomi Ong I now know is a fraudster. But then, looks could be deceiving.
I had refused to believe those critical stories. I even ignored friends who had warned me about a certain Naomi, the sweet-talker, master manipulator, and an artist. I didn't realize the hint of sarcasm in the noun artist, because it turned out Naomi was a con artist, a scam artist, a clip artist.
I told myself that this Naomi Ong partnering with me in Periodico must be different from Naomi the "artist" being denounced by a lot of people as far as the Philippines. Anyway, I'd take a gamble on that. I would investigate. I knew that in due time I would be able to tell if Naomi Ong is the same person as Naomi the "artist".
One persistent claim is that Naomi the "artist" had been paid huge sums of money on her promise that she would work on the immigration papers of several applicants wanting to settle in Canada. Another disturbing claim is that Naomi the "artist" had coaxed unsuspecting people for help, then fleeced them of their money.
Without the proper documents on my hand, I would not believe it. I was not inclined to render judgment on someone because of somebody else's claims. I wanted something fool-proof.
When shown the pictures later, my trust in Naomi Ong began to crumble. I compared the pictures I took during a night of celebration at a squalid resto-bar on Wilson Ave. Despite doubts, I still held on to my principle not to make a conclusion about any person until the contrary is proven.
Comes now the ghostly Periodico, the unmanned online edition that steals and regurgitates articles and photos from the web and publishes them without attribution. Not a few times did this publication lift from my online sites. Some of my materials remain posted on its website without my permission.
There are risks in writing about it. One is that the periodical is gaining some instant recognition. I notice that it's building itself up through a combination of cunning, misrepresentation, and deception. I thought the characterizations may also be descriptive of the secret owners. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).
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