Filipino Centre Toronto's 'Dirty Underwear' Takes Spotlight

Volume 2, Issue No. 41

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, November 30, 2020 

~ The rotten smell would not go away easily and the people who feel offended by the stink, or what seems like a dreadful stench, would not give up either. Patience and determination are admirable qualities whistleblowers have and those are the only means, excepting a legal remedy, available to them to get to the bottom of Filipino Centre Toronto's obstinacy to submit to a public accounting of big chunks of money. FCT officials have a responsibility to fulfill to the community and to its funders and political supporters.

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DEAFENING SILENCE AMIDST COVID PANDEMIC

Is FCT Laundering or 'Wearing Dirty Underwear'?

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"You can't possibly conduct a proper affair without a lot of deliberating, scheming, speculating, and conniving. It's a delicate balance where the excitement must equal the guilt . . . " -  John Dufresne

TORONTO - "Baka nagtututong na yan, palitan na," my dear departed mother would tell the boys in the family whenever the time came to bathe. The meaning of her caustic remarks was not lost on our young mischievous selves then; she was actually commanding us to change for clean jockeys once done washing.

Nagtututong derives from the root word tutong (or scorched), the literal meaning of which is the burnt portion of the rice at the bottom of the pot. So, to say something is nagtututong, figuratively, is to say it's soiled, that dirt has accumulated and calcified. The word is a common metaphor in Cavite, the province from which my parents hailed.

I recall those trifling moments when we were in grade school many years ago. But now, the interaction my brothers and I have had with our mother finds currency in what I just read from two Filipino tabloids that carried the same commentary headlined "FCT Board Needs to Stop Wearing Dirty Underwear".

The big question that quickly came to mind was "how long have they been 'wearing dirty underwear'?" It sounds gross, but of course, I know the writer was making use of a figure of speech to get his message across. 

Towards the end of his essay, the meaning clearly emerges. Says the author: "The situation in FCT is like a well-dressed person who wears the same underwear for a week. Beauty shines on the outside, but anybody can imagine what's rancid underneath".

My gosh, I hate to visualize it in terms my mother would describe to us boys: "Baka nagtututong na yan . . . "  Well, in our youth we had the good sense of complying with her order. No question, no ifs, no buts. We would not wear dirty underwear a day longer, period.

The putrid smell of anything is repulsive. Briefs, underwear, boxer shorts, jockeys, undies, etc. could be washed clean. But to apply the phrase "wearing dirty underwear" to hint at skulduggery involving vast amounts of money is truly illustrative of an evolving scandal. 

I had this persistent hunch that the coronavirus has descended on FCT (Filipino Centre Toronto). To clarify, that suspicion is purely speculative, unscientific, and ineffectual. I hope it may turn out to be completely unfounded. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDQoagXLlQ).

I tried to brush up a bit on the symptoms of the coronavirus infection. 

One is the loss of smell, which probably explains why the FCT Board does not notice that the underwear they're wearing is foul-smelling, or in the language of my mother, nagtututong na. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZFXKzvQqYY).

Another symptom is the loss of speech or movement. 

For the last three years predating the arrival of the coronavirus, the FCT Board has been mute and immobile. I don't know if this situation is feigned or a consequence of tardiness while enjoying life sitting on piles of money. It seems, however, that both speech and movement are impaired.

These could be the very plausible reason for the FCT Board's refusal/hesitance/inability to act on the petition of its members for transparency in the disbursement of funds. They demand - to no avail - an explanation on how four individuals and two establishments had been remunerated for their monetary claims totaling $678,000. 

Why would the FCT Board not identify officially the recipients of the money, preferring instead to assign them initials and nicknames only? Why the hush?

And the beneficiaries are, according to documents obtained by this reporter early on, "Vicki", "RCJ", "Felino", "CRA", "Wendy" and "S and J Mechanicals". The amounts paid to them are as follows: "Vicki" - $300,000; "RCJ" - $96,000; "Felino" - $122,000; "CRA" - $122,000; "Wendy" - $30,000; and "S and J Mechanicals" - $8,000.

Whatever it is, only reinforces my gut-feel that the FCT Board is COVID-afflicted. Board members could also be drowning in the hailstorm of millions of monies that poured from the $5.9-million sale of its old building on Parliament Street in downtown Toronto. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/06/fct-members-renew-demand-for.html).

Still another symptom is difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. 

I am not a physician nor somebody with a questionable "Dr." affixed to my name, but I could sense the FCT Board's difficulty breathing when confronted face to face. Based on my personal experience, board members are frightened by the prospect of being exposed in public. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5YUCP0xqlQ).

So, what's left of the community to do? Do FCT funders and political supporters know what's going on? 

Obscene as it is, the hyperbolic use of "dirty underwear" being worn by the FCT Board is an all-encompassing description to show how egregious the state of affairs is in that organization. It's more graphic and pointed than dirty laundry. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).