Filipino Web Magazine : December 2020

Saturday, 26 December 2020

Periodico's Lies and Incompetence Could Not Sustain It

Volume 2, Issue No. 47

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 . . .

The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Saturday, December 26, 2020

~ No talent, no money, no knowledge, nothing exceptional but to lie and lie repeatedly, the upstart tabloid called Periodico was doomed to fail and perish. And that final moment came almost unnoticed. It resorted to a euphemism to announce its departure from the local scene. "Account suspended," the announcement said days after it proclaimed it wasn't coming back 'till 2021 "after the lockdown". In reality, it's over for this yellow publication.

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THE UPSTART CALLED PERIODICO

The End Was Inevitable for This Tabloid

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“A moment’s beginning ends in a moment”. ― Munia Khan

(Editor's note: I wrote the article below as soon as I read the notice that Periodico's account "has been suspended". That was days before Christmas. On that same day (December 25, 2020), I checked again to see if it was still on. Well, to my big surprise, Periodico pops up again with the same old garbage that has become its trademark. I decided to run this piece just the same knowing its demise is just a matter of time).

TORONTO - As if to soften the pain of losing its inconsequential presence, the self-conceited tabloid called Periodico has gone - or more accurately, forced - into suspended animation, perhaps never to rise again, hopefully not in the foreseeable future.

"This Account has been suspended," declares the one message on its website. "Contact your hosting provider for more information".

That was the death knell. Its actual existence, propped later on by what passed as an online presence, had been short-lived owing to the baloneys it perpetrated and soon discovered by an audience so small it was unquantifiable.

The secretive people behind it believed and fought for the idiocies the periodical published in wanton disregard of ethical niceties, wrongly concluding it had the license to vilify its perceived enemies.

The first time Periodico came out in print in March, it had committed to a strict adherence to high standards of journalism. As its editor-in-chief, it had to be that way. "We will not countenance wrongdoing in all its forms," I stated unequivocally in my editorial outlining the fundamental principles it stood for and practiced.

That declaration probably did not sit well with the people who had invited me to head the paper. Later on, these same people would be the ones to contravene that as it had become obvious their agenda was personal than their stated goal of serving the community.

Well, I would not ruin my reputation built over decades of experience as a multi-media journalist only to participate in the revenge being exacted by my principals. I had to get out. My term didn't last long, and I became, by my own choice, a one-issue editor-in-chief. No regrets though.

My currency is the amazing trust reposed in me by millions of viewers, readers, and supporters in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and of course, in the Philippines. I enjoy huge patronage in the homeland as in Canada and the United States. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/11/ten-years-of-free-and-unencumbered.html).

The subsequent issues of Periodico after March had migrated online. To be clear, I had nothing to do with them despite the appearance in its online edition of many of my articles pirated from my website. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7JWqL2AUDc).

I had predicted the publication would not last long. For one, it had no credibility. It published lies after lies and even exulted that it had become a "sensation" (after only two issues) when there are no metrics to show readers had known and acknowledged it. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgJIOUQv7CQ).

It shamelessly spoke of "honest reporting" when in fact it stood for dishonesty and distortion. The owner, publisher, editor, writer - whoever they were - were in constant hiding, physically and nominally, for fear of being found out ostensibly because of existing issues with the law.

Just take a look at the website. There's no way of contacting whoever by phone or email. Their office probably exists in the clouds, or if not, only in the fanciful minds of the wannabe media persons they claimed to be. Yet they contend getting feedbacks in praise of what they're doing. It's total bullshit.

One ghost I'd renamed Bulaan (liar) had the nerve to assign to himself the penname of Jose Rizal, best known for his novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, inferring he had the intellectual gift and writing talent of the Philippine hero when he can't even distinguish a noun from a verb, a pronoun from a contraction of a phrase.

Just before its pre-Christmas shutdown, Periodico wrote: "Some publications are full of grifters, tricksters, and outright liars who rely on people's fabricated stories to amplify their message". (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/12/so-distraught-this-wannabe-begs-to-be.html).

For a moment, I thought the publication was describing itself. How fittingly, with these words: "They create outrage about something that had seemingly never happened. There are a few red flags that mislead. There are ragebaits to attract sponsors. There are twisted stories to grab readership".

Surely, that statement was not about Periodico, but it did depict it in no uncertain terms. So graphic the language was that what it had set out to do to advance a wrong cause was actually being projected accurately.

I knew the broadside was directed at another tabloid that had graciously lent itself to a purported elite group whose officers and members look more like the despicable scammers in the community than the crusaders they professed to be.

Any reasonable person would raise hell against anyone who wrongs him. And this is precisely the trigger for the aggrieved party to retaliate in the same arena - publishing a newspaper and a website despite its manifest incompetence - for maximum exposure.

Periodico was not only a fledgling, it sorely lacked the financial muscle, the manpower, and the knowledge to sustain a newspaper battling another to even up the score. This is not to say its nemesis had all these; its only advantage was its money and an established brand name. Without those, it's just as inept.

Handicapped by lack of funds, Periodico was doomed. Absent the expert manpower (not the kind that Bulaan exemplified), it was hopeless. Though it existed for a while, its end was inevitable. And so on this cold December month, it succumbed to its fate. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Wednesday, 23 December 2020

Philippines Says Communists, Islamist Militants Are "Terrorists"

Volume 2, Issue No. 46

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Wednesday, December 23, 2020

~ The Philippine government has officially added a new designation to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army: "terrorists". Along with three Islamic groups operating in the Southern Philippines, the government said they pose a "serious terrorism threat in the country". In the three years ending 2019, "the CPP/NPA extorted around P5.5B in ‘revolutionary taxes’," a Malacanang Palace statement said this week. The label takes significance in Canada because there are active front organizations operating in some provinces, particularly in Ontario's Greater Toronto Area.

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THREE ISLAMIC GROUPS INCLUDED

PHL Gov't Tags Communists, NPA 'Terrorists'

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

TORONTO - The Philippine government has bolstered its fight against communist and Islamist insurgents by designating at least five armed groups as "terrorist organizations".

The presidential Malacanang Palace has announced in Manila that the government has officially classified the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its military wing, the New People's Army (NPA); the Islamic State East Asia, Maute Group, and Daulah Islamiyah "terrorists".

They "pose serious terrorism threat in the country," the Palace said in a press statement issued on December 9, 2020. A copy of the statement was made available to The Filipino Web Channel only this week.

The CPP/NPA has been "engaged in violent and destructive activities for the last five decades," and "its violent and armed activities (that) resulted in the destruction of properties, loss of lives, and damage to business and economy," the press statement said.

(Full text of resolution at: https://atcpmc.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ATC-RESOLUTION-NO.-12-2020.pdf).

The determination is particularly significant in relation to Canada, especially in the Greater Toronto Area where there are leftist ideologues, communist sympathizers, youth advocates, and media organizations fronting as active community participants. Some are engaged in fundraisings.

Canada's Minister of Public Safety, Bill Blair, MP for Scarborough Southwest, has not responded to questions as of this writing today, Wednesday, December 23, 2020.

The Philippine government's Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) said it "found probable cause to designate the CPP/NPA as a terrorist group for its violent and armed activities that resulted in the destruction of properties, loss of lives, and damage to business and economy."

The law creating the ATC was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on July 3, 2020, to prevent, prohibit and penalize terrorism in the Philippines. Its constitutionality is under challenged in the Supreme Court. (More info at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Terrorism_Act_of_2020).

"The CPP/NPA also employs deception, threats, and violence to be able to raise funds through unlawful exaction of money, extortion, collection of so-called permit-to-campaign (PTC) and permit-to-win (PTW) fees during the

campaign period, and soliciting material support from international NGOs under the guise of being a pro-people and humanitarian organization," the ATC explained.

It said that "from 2016 to 2019, the CPP/NPA extorted around P5.5B in ‘revolutionary taxes.’ It also collected millions in PTC and PTW fees during the May 2019 elections. Moreover, the CPP/NPA, in the past, was able to solicit from NGOs abroad".

Prior to the latest Malacanang announcement, Jose Maria Sison, founding chairman of CPP, already stated in his website that: "The Duterte regime and its political and military agents misrepresent communists as terrorists through propaganda and by the enactment of a fascist law like the Anti-Terrorism Law which targets the Communist Party of the Philippines and the revolutionary movement".

"With their baseless listing of the CPP and CPP as terrorists, they are practically encouraging Duterte to engage in anti-communist witchhunts and engage in state terrorism," the Netherlands-based Sison said.

President Duterte has previously issued a proclamation in December 2017 designating the CPP/NPA as "terrorist organizations". This month's ATC resolution merely affirms that, based on the Department of Justice's findings of twelve incidents which it said "constitute terrorist acts of murder, kidnapping and arson".

"The CPP/NPA continues to commit acts of terror to sow and create a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace in order to coerce the Philippine Government to give in to its unlawful demand, i.e., for the CPP/NPA to overthrow the duly constituted authorities and seize control of the Philippine Government. Similar terrorist acts are continuously committed by the CPP/NPA in different parts of the country up to the present," the statement explained.

The ATC said other countries had made similar designations of the CPP/NPA as a "foreign terrorist organization" (FTO), including the European Union, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

Friday, 18 December 2020

FCT Tries To Be Funny Amidst Pandemic

Volume 2, Issue No. 45

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, December 18, 2020

~ Everyone feels a little downcast these days because of the coronavirus pandemic. Somehow that sentiment is replaced with the arrival of a vaccine. Add to that glimmer of hope is this comic relief provided by the embattled Filipino Centre Toronto, perhaps inadvertently, as it tries to polish its image with the caricature of its executives and directors. Or is it a ploy to hide their real faces?

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COMIC RELIEF FROM FILIPINO CENTRE TORONTO

FCT Caricature: A Political Ploy or Humor?

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Liars create confusion by using delusions.” ― Christine E. Szymanski

TORONTO - If I hadn't seen and photographed some officials of Filipino Centre Toronto, I would say their caricature on its website is fairly modest. But I did take pictures and videos, and in some instances even interacted with them up close. I know how they look.

On some occasions, I had chatted with them in not so friendly terms, which is okay by me, knowing the nature of my job entails, I believe, taking an adversarial stance on people and subjects of my journalism. That's the objective reality. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5YUCP0xqlQ).

So, I'd critique the comic portrayal as dilettantish. I mean no offense to the artist who did it - for free or for a fee? - but I do believe the representation is unrealistic. Much as the artist wanted to inject some youthful vigor in their looks, the fact is FCT officials are no longer kids. Many of them are of the boomers' generation. In that sense the caricatures are unlifelike. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dWabOiCwhU).

That's the most generous conclusion I could say, hoping it would not cause displeasure. What bothers me is why the FCT leadership would opt to have caricatures of themselves instead of posting their current photos. Is that intended to soften the image of the five executive officers and 13 members of the board of directors?

Has that got something to do with the unanswered demands from concerned members and whistleblowers to disclose the true financial state of the organization? Instead of the drawings, why not display the relevant financial statements under question?

In case I am asked, I'd say my knowledge of the visual arts is limited to photography and video. I want to make that clear because there may be subtle nuances in the FCT drawing that I miss. But I do have a considerable understanding of other forms like architecture, painting, sculpture, and film-making.

A makeover of FCT is underway, I could sense that, perhaps to humor the concerned members and whistleblowers who have been demanding without success a public disclosure of the financial situation since it sold its old building for $5.9 million, bought a fixer-upper for $1.9 million, invested $1-million for its repair, and paid recently-surfaced claimants at least $678,000.

By any measure, those are vast sums of money that need to be accounted for. The FCT owes that to the community, its funders, and other supporters who may not be properly apprised of how the organization takes care of its assets.

In my view, no amount of transformation, however comical, farcical, and superficial, would drive people to abandon their challenge to FCT officials to live up to their public declaration to be responsible and transparent, after all, a whopping $4-million plus money is involved.

(Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/12/fcts-masterpiece-of-gobbledygook.html).

The artist's rendition of each of the 18 officials of FCT may be a ploy to conceal their identities, or a simplistic attempt to evade facial recognition. That's a transparency question again. I don't know, but it surely reinforces the perception that secrecy is the current regimen in that non-profit organization.

Based on the drawings, these officials would be unrecognizable once they venture out of the FCT premises. Perhaps only Efren de Villa, FCT chair, would easily be noticeable because of a distinguishing mark, his mustache. The others would be hard to spot.

An underlying message in the caricatures appears to be a campaign to promote Philippine tourist destinations. I could be wrong. The background scene of each of the officials could very well be their hometowns.

But then, look at the drawing of Mary San Juan, FCT president. She stands like a doorkeeper or tour guide in front of the main gate of Fort Santiago in Intramuros, Manila. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZQqzGAaVgA and more info at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Santiago).

How they all project themselves is quite funny.

With coconut trees and white sands as the backdrop of his caricature, Efren de Villa, FCT chair, could be anywhere in the homeland. He could also be in the Caribbean.

Judith Gonzales, FCT secretary, looks fearless in Bicol while the majestic Mayon Volcano is ejecting smoke preparatory to an eruption. Wendy Arena, FCT treasurer, is joyful on the periphery of Chocolate Hills in Bohol province. (Info at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_Hills).

Alvine Marasigan Flor and Cory Coutts, both FCT directors, are standing at the mouth of someplace I can't identify. It could be in Palawan. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRNF58F4Jyg).

Then there's the painter Frank Cruzet floating on the beach, which I believe must be Boracay. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqwBD4MNV_U). Mercy Maliglig, FCT director, stands on a raft in Pagsanjan Falls, Laguna.

Mhel Galleon (sic), FCT director and popular owner of FV Foods, probably forgot his wet suit on a scuba diving trip in his native Sariaya, Quezon. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XcwOryj0h4).

There's also Nette de Villa, FCT director, looking contemplative amidst Taal Volcano and its surrounding lake visible from Batangas and Cavite. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muwqBgNmSUY).

Philip Beloso is a well-dressed visitor exploring Calle Crisologo in Vigan in Ilocos Sur. (Info at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigan). Priscilla Tumulak appears to be covering the photo bomber in Luneta (Rizal Park) in Manila. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHp2qvCCj0M).

Whether it's self-promotion or tourism, these FCT officials are of touch. They'd rather convey the impression of being cool, fine, and nonchalant when the centre is embroiled in a long-standing dispute with its members.

The FCT website runs a blurb that says: "The Filipino Centre Toronto is a community centre established to help Filipinos preserve their identity and individuality while at the same time making their presence felt in their new country."

Thursday, 10 December 2020

So Distraught, This Wannabe Begs To Be Noticed

Volume 2, Issue No. 44

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Thursday, December 10, 2020

~ To hear it from a scurrilous wannabe trying to make a living is somewhat distressing, especially in these perilous times. "I want to be . . . taken seriously," he writes, imploring the few readers of this rag called Periodico. But he's off on the wrong foot, vainly attempting to rescue it from its downfall precipitated by the utter lies and recently-surfaced scams allegedly committed by its secretive publishers.

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WANNABE BEGS FOR ATTENTION

"I Want To Be Taken Seriously"

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

TORONTO - Just when the gloom of the cold season is setting in, I found an occasion to laugh again to my heart's content. I realize that in eleven days, winter comes, and with it, the challenges of the following three months under the omnipresent threat of the novel coronavirus.

Quite entertaining and inexpensive at that, to read from the dead-by-default rag and website called Periodico, the bastard tabloid that recently gave birth to this ill-conceived hybrid behind the pseudonym Laong Laan a.k.a. Bulaan (liar in English).

The site must have been temporarily resuscitated, and as it struggles to stay alive for one more moment, the hybrid managed to rant and rave about things and events, big and small, in the community.

"I want to be a serious writer, taken seriously," Bulaan confesses in his own words, almost begging for attention, the kind that continues to escape him and his patrons, including the dodgy couple and the bi-gendered Marimacho. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/10/periodico-rogue-tabloid-in-torontos.html).

It's an admission that he's a puppy learning to bark hard and bite. Soon, he'll grow up to be a bulldog. When that happens and his appearance looks menacing, he'd still cower in fear for being unprepared to square off and face those who would not put up with his crap. He needs to learn a lot more than what his imbecilic mind could fathom.

Like the people he surrounds himself with, Bulaan is deceptive. His pretensions stink. The false pretenses he acquired from his secretive principals in Periodico must stop already. He flounders whenever he attempts to look knowledgeable. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/10/periodico-rogue-tabloid-in-torontos.html).

For example, school-age kids are better off understanding grammar than him who can't even distinguish a pronoun from a contraction. How can people take him seriously? I know it's embarrassing but I just like to point this out only to illustrate how shallow he is.

Correct grammar is of no concern to him. He's careless (or ignorant?) like these examples show from the item he wrote. Examples: Number 1. "While Periodico has now gained legitimacy in it’s news reporting . . . "; Number 2. " . . . if Balita kept to it’s original mandate . . . "; and Number 3. "Periodico has it’s share of left-wing people too."

Clearly, this Bulaan idiot is using the contraction of the phrase "it is" (it's), a determiner, which is wrong, instead of the possessive pronoun "its", which is the correct form. If he lacks the fundamentals, then it follows that he can't be trusted with anything at all.

For the fun of it, I take note of his many claims while I take a break from reading books I recently bought about Donald Trump (so far six of them - Mary Trump's Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, John Bolton's The Room Where It Happened, Michael Cohen's Disloyal, Bob Woodward's Rage, Michael Wolff's Siege and Fire and Fury), and Pulitzer Prize-winner Samantha Power's The Education of an Idealist.

Heavy stuff, huh, beyond your comprehension Bulaan? I know, I know that listing those books would invite criticisms from ignoramuses like some of those in Periodico. The truth is I spend time and money to gain insights from the masters, not from run-of-the-mill publications dumped in Filipino stores in Little Manila and lavishly licked by Bulaan.

The fun continues with Bulaan, of all people, making judgments about current issues of which he is the least- and ill-informed. He lists what he calls "the three big news stories" in the local community, which only goes to show his poor grasp of the news, and what passes for news in rumors, speculations, and praise releases.

Poor guy. He writes that, and I quote: "It’s no secret that Balita wants a war with Periodico." He's not understanding a thing. The war has been going on since March! My gosh, how can you be so dumb?

One of the funniest passages in his article is this, and I quote: "The community understands that when you (referring to Balita's Teresita Cuisipag) were poisoned by Romy Marquez, you wrote those muckraker stories because you needed intrigue to not be a 'boring' newspaper."

Bobo talaga! Sorry for that remark, but I can't help saying it. Gunggong would have been a better word. Either way, it's a fitting description of Bulaan and his enablers. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7JWqL2AUDc).

The dictionary defines a muckraker as "a person who searches for and tries to expose real or alleged corruption, scandal, or other wrongdoing, especially in politics". Another definition of muckraker: "a person, especially one in a news organization, who tries to find out unpleasant information about people or organization in order to make it public".

Near the tail-end of his write-up, Bulaan warns, and I quote: "And I will probably not write about Tess Cusipag or Balita or Romy Marquez anymore, unless the needs warrant it."

Well, my advice: better not about me, you dummkopf! I'm truly insulted not so much by what you wrote as the way you wrote it. Go back to school. Stay away from your drinking buddies in Little Manila. Save so you can buy books that enrich you and your knowledge. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Tuesday, 8 December 2020

FCT's Masterpiece of Gobbledygook

Volume 2, Issue No. 43

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Tuesday, December 8, 2020

~ Reading through the "message from the FCT board of directors" of Filipino Centre Toronto leads me to believe that it is a masterpiece of gobbledygook and obfuscation. Nothing clear is to be found in the 18-paragraph statement issued late Sunday night in the form of a press release. Many questions from whistleblowers remain unanswered by this non-profit whose top officials have vowed to be transparent, honest, and open to communications. It's now apparent that FCT does not walk the talk; it just talks and talks.

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THE $5.9-MILLION PUZZLE REMAINS UNANSWERED

FCT Breaks Silence . . . But Not Quite

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“There are only two kinds of faces: Sincere and insincere!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

TORONTO - Constant needling spanning at least three years has eventually moved top officials of the non-profit Filipino Centre Toronto (FCT) to bare some information about the way it disbursed money from the proceeds of the $5.9-million sale of its old building in the city's downtown.

It sounds like a significant development given that officials had gone the way of the three wise monkeys of Japanese lore who "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" soon after FCT had departed for a new $1.9-million home in the eastern suburb of Scarborough.

On the contrary, whistleblowers and concerned members alleged that they see, hear, and speak evil in the aftermath of the acquisition of the one-story property that now houses FCT. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/11/filipino-centre-torontos-dirty.html).

Rather than shed light on the remainder of the $5.9 million (that's $4 million; $5.9 million minus $1.9 million), the "message from the FCT board of directors" appears more to obfuscate the outstanding issues.

The "message" issued late Sunday (December 6, 2020) night in the form of a press release is the first official public response by the FCT attributed to FCT president Mary Ann San Juan. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZFXKzvQqYY).

She was not quite forthcoming though. Her response to the questions swirling around the money and how it was being expended was a rhetorical question: "Is there someone out there who would be willing to work and be paid only when there was money?"

That was actually a no-answer. It dodges the fundamental points of the controversy, such as the amount of money ($678,000) paid to claimants the moment the $5.9-million sale was consummated in June 2017 and led to an avalanche of IOUs. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/09/from-30000-to-300000-how-did-it-balloon.html).

Perhaps in keeping with its stance to not identify them from early on, San Juan referred to the payees as "two board members," "the other member," and "these 3 individuals" without indicating their names and the sum of money each got from FCT.

However, according to documents obtained by this reporter from sources within FCT, the "IOUs" were paid in this manner: "Vicki" - $300,000; "RCJ" - $96,000; "Felino" - $122,000; "CRA" - $122,000; "Wendy" - $30,000; and "S and J Mechanicals" - $8,000.

The same documents showed "Vicki" is Dr. Victoria Santiago, a dentist, and a former FCT official; "RCJ" was Rosalinda Cerrudo-Javier (deceased), former FCT president; "Felino" is Felino Javier, supposedly a volunteer handyman and husband of RCJ; "CRA" is Canada Revenue Agency; and "Wendy" is Wendy Arena, an FCT administrative assistant.

FCT officials have not acknowledged these facts.

(Full story and video at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/06/fct-members-renew-demand-for.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDQoagXLlQ).

Without saying who, San Juan explained: "These two Board Members were paid according to the responsibilities that they carried and acted (one as Building Manager and the other as Office Manager)".

She was also short on details. She said: "The other member who was paid x x x was the Building Superintendent. He was a member of FCT but not a Board Member." Further, she said: "The salary agreed upon was a lot less than the prevailing rate, as FCT could not afford the prevailing rate."

Left for people to guess is this explanation from her: "These 3 individuals were owed money for a number of years. They were paid when there was money, otherwise it was an IOU note."

FCT is ostensibly playing a guessing game. What is this, kwarta o kahon? Millions of dollars are involved, excluding a recent grant of $100,000.

A review - not an audit - of the 2017 and 2018 financial statements was preferred by FCT, according to San Juan, because "an audit would cost a lot more, about $10,000 more for each year and the result would have been the same." And to justify it, she said: "The FCT Board was being fiscally responsible."

San Juan is being disingenuous. Her judgment that 'the result would have been the same" is fallacious because it ignores the impact an audit has on financial statements. For one, an audit may lead to the discovery of possible anomalies. On the other hand, a review merely evaluates the soundness of the financial statements.

Her excuse that "an audit would cost a lot more" is unacceptable. Whistleblowers and concerned members would still like to know how $4-million is being used up and for what.

A major cause for concern is the ambiguity of the last sentence in this paragraph of the "message", and I quote: "Renovations to the building were approved by the Board – a new kitchen, full washroom, library book shelves for the Filipiniana collection, roof repair, new heating and air conditioning, patio, basement. The Centre has also put $1M in investment." (Italics mine).

Does that "investment" mean money for the renovations? A one-million-dollar allocation is a lot for a fixer-upper, so why was it not announced publicly prior to the overhaul?

Well, I assume that $1-million has just been chipped away from the $4-million FCT had realized from the sale of its old building. How much is left of that amount? (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).