'Age Is a Quality of Mind;' 'Youth Is Not a Time of Life'

Volume 3, Issue No. 21

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 and beyond . . . . . .

 

 Our latest as of Tuesday, December 28, 2021 

~ The holiday season isn't over yet. And so is the greatest challenge of our lifetime, the coronavirus pandemic. Amidst the crisis, we can find comfort in words that soothe and give inspiration. Two poems about age and youth provide the balm against frayed nerves, which is just about what we need to ease our minds.

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'AGE IS A QUALITY OF MIND'

Poems in the Time of the Pandemic 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

TORONTO - Flipping through the pages of Poems That Live Forever, one of three dozen poetry books in my collection that I brought here from California in 2010, my attention was riveted to two poems by H. S. Fritsch (1878-1933) and Samuel Ullman (1840-1924), both Americans.

I find them meaningful in the current situation we are in. The New Year could already be felt. As we gallop through myriad problems, we keep count of the events that affect us most profoundly. 

The recent past and the incoming year would inescapably be identified with the coronavirus pandemic that began in March 2020 and practically hamstrung us, listlessly, and as Montreal-born writer Jill Clement says, like a fish in an aquarium.

Just to think about it is horrible. In the nearly two years of the pandemic gnawing away at our lives, we find solace in the hope it would die out with the help of science. Truly, a number of vaccines have been already developed, shielding us from catastrophic harm.

The numbers are staggering: 281,228,145 total cases; 5,405,654 total deaths; and 8,971,972,583 total vaccine doses administered, according to Johns Hopkins' Coronavirus Resource Center's statistics as of Monday, December 27.

It is in this circumstance that I find Fritsch's "How Old Are You?" and Ullman's "Youth" appropriate. The pandemic is a universal experience and what to make of the moment is encapsulated in these two poems. 

Fritsch wrote in How Old Are You?: 

Age is a quality of mind.

If you have left your dreams behind,

If hope is cold,

If you no longer look ahead,If your ambitions' fires are dead --Then you are old.

But if from life you take the best,
And if in life you keep the jest,
If love you hold;
No matter how the years go by,
No matter how the birthdays fly--

You are not old.

The worldwide lockdowns, isolation, quarantine, and other stringent public health measures 

spurred by the pandemic have aged many of us, outwardly at least, as we weigh the

the future. But we're far from being old, wiser we would become, if we continue the

trail to optimism.

Ullman felt almost the same, thus in his "Youth" he wrote:

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

General Douglas MacArthur, the first and only Field Marshal of the Philippine Army who famously vowed "I shall return," had this poem hung on the wall of his office in Tokyo, says Wikipedia. And I see the reason why. Not only was it his inspiration, it was also the stimulant that kept him fighting.

"Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul". This is just so beautiful; it's something I can identify with. 

My contemporaries in the Philippines and in foreign media frequently asked why my journalism practice appears uninterrupted from age 18 through more than five decades. Well, without being facetious, Ullman's poem is the answer to that. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).

FCT Brushes Off Audit Results

Volume 3, Issue No. 20

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 and beyond . . . . . .

 

 The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, December 23, 2021 

~ The long-delayed financial statement or the scathing results of an audit - which one is more relevant in the midst of demands for transparency among officers of Filipino Centre Toronto? Obviously, both are significant. But for some reason, FCT published only the former which shows, without explanation, its financial situation in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The result of an independent audit, scathing as it is, appears to have been brushed off. 

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OBSCURITY, THE FLIPSIDE OF TRANSPARENCY

FCT Publishes Old Financials 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state on innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.” - James Baldwin

TORONTO - On the day I put out my article about the damning results of an audit of Filipino Centre Toronto, the non-profit released on its website a two-page copy of its financial statement covering the years 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Lumped in what it calls "financials" - a document entitled 2020-2021 annual report - were the "statement of financial position as of December 31, 2018" and "statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018".

The statements took three long years to disclose, quite possibly because FCT can no longer withstand the growing demand for transparency from whistleblowers, concerned members, the community, and the very compelling revelation by auditors of "major accounting deficiencies" in the organization.

Unless readers of the financials are schooled in accounting or have some working knowledge of it, the numbers there are nothing but numbers. To the trained eye, however, those numbers speak volumes, perhaps behind them might conceal some trade secrets.

From what I knew, financial statements are intended to give light, not darkness, to numbers not easily understood by commoners. They are supposed to walk us through the meaning of every entry and how it impacts members.

FCT's move to publish them had run the course of three years of deliberations, controversy, media suppression, and denunciation only to arrive at the end without as much as a simple explanation about FCT's revenues and assets. "Go figure it out for yourself," was probably the message officers wanted to tell members.

Now left to our own devices, the option available is to compare the financials with the scathing outcome of the third party independent audit performed by the accounting and auditing firm Yale PGC LLP.

While Yale PGC LLP distances itself from its findings, the report it produced gave us an idea of the inner workings of FCT officers. What it found was not surprising at all. Whistleblowers and concerned members have been talking about what they believe are irregularities in FCT, thus their demand for transparency and accountability.

What is astonishing is the question of why FCT did not publish the results of the 40-plus pages of the audit that had been handed to members during the annual general meeting on November 14. These are the more substantive part that accurately portrays FCT, in my opinion.

I can only speculate. Was it because it's an outright condemnation of what appears to be a clandestine practice within the disintegrating walls of this fixer-upper now home to Filipino Centre Toronto?

One thought that occupies my mind is whether FCT's decision to purchase this old structure in Scarborough had figured in the determination to sell its old digs in downtown Toronto knowing the former requires expensive maintenance upkeep.

I believe this fixer-upper is not much different from what an FCT official had condemned as a "cockroach and mice-infested" two-story building on Parliament St. that had been FCT's office and rental property for more than a decade.

The numbers apparently pushed forward the move to the east village of Scarborough. The Parliament quarters in the historic St. James Town/Cabbagetown neighbourhood where Tagalog is the predominant second language (next to English) brought in $5.9 million. That money easily transformed FCT into a multimillionaire.

The Scarborough property, reportedly a former antique center and auction house, cost FCT $1.9 million in cold, hard cash to obtain. Within a few months of its acquisition, FCT threw in $1 million for repairs, effectively raising expense costs to nearly $3 million. So, how much is left of the $5.9 million given the alleged runaway spending at FCT?

Why relocate? A blog entry in the local business improvement area says FCT president Mary Ann San Juan "likes the location because it’s so visible and many people will see the sign every day. Many groups tour the facilities and rent the space for events, meetings and special occasions".

One item in the blog that caught my attention was the paragraph that says "she has been a very dedicated volunteer for many years, keeping the facility running smoothly". There, she also disclosed that FCT has "seven full-time employees" and high school student volunteers.

That San Juan is a "dedicated volunteer" is new to me. It's the first time too that I learn that FCT has seven full-time employees! Well, my cynicism stems from circumstances that seem to redefine the meaning of volunteer. 

In law, a volunteer is "a person who works without pay or assumes an obligation to which he or she is not a party or otherwise interested". That keeps bothering me. If that is the case, why is FCT saddled with monetary claims from individuals who are supposed to be volunteers? Are FCT officers volunteers or paid employees? (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).

'Major Deficiencies' Plague Filipino Centre Toronto

Volume 3, Issue No.19

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 and beyond . . . . . .

 

 Our latest as of Monday, December 20, 2021 

~ Auditors have uncovered questionable practices at Filipino Centre Toronto, the community's multi-million non-profit that is currently under fire from whistleblowers and concerned members over large payouts to recently-emerged monetary claimants. All the while the results of an audit have been circulated exclusively to members at a meeting on November 14, not a word has trickled out of the boisterous mouths of its top officers, specifically the duo of Mary Ann San Juan, FCT president, and Efren de Villa, board chairman. A concerned member finally took up the cudgels for the public and published her report in two local newspapers. 

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BY THIRD PARTY INDEPENDENT AUDIT

Auditors Uncover Irregularities at FCT

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Shame on the misguided, the blinded, the distracted and the divided. Shame. You have allowed deceptive men to corrupt and desensitize your hearts and minds to unethically fuel their greed.” ― Suzy Kassem

TORONTO - An independent audit performed on Filipino Centre Toronto (FCT) appears to confirm members' lingering suspicion of irregularities in the multi-million non-profit organization.

Besides, it has found the FCT wanting in the handling of its financial affairs, and noted, among others, a disregard for sound accounting standards, and the existence of potential conflicts of interest among its officers.

For instance, hundreds of thousands of dollars categorized as "loans payable" purportedly went to unidentified past board members and chairman the total ($535,206 apparently) of which was not verified for lack of documentation.

"Never in FCT’s prior years’ financial statements were loans payable reported," said Maria CJ de Villa, a long-time FCT member who authored an article revealing the findings of the audit conducted by independent auditors at Yale PGC LLP.

Even as the results of the audit were divulged in 40-page documents handed to members during a general meeting on November 14, the FCT has not made any announcement about the event. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/10/showtime-at-embattled-filipino-centre.html).

Ms. de Villa's writeup, published last week in two Filipino tabloids, has not been challenged either by the auditors or by FCT and its officers. Neither was its contents questioned. (FCT chair Efren de Villa and FCT president Mary Ann San Juan have yet to respond to questions emailed to them last week).

In explaining the "loans payable" the auditors said: ". . . we are not able to determine the impact of these items on the opening and closing balance of the Centre’s deficit.”

Auditors at Yale PGC LLP have issued disclaimers accompanying their findings, to wit: “We do not express an opinion on the statement of operations and statement of cash flows of the Centre x x x  we have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion on these statements.’’

Issuance of such a disclaimer of opinion means the auditors could not complete their examination and verification of financial statements due to a lack of supporting documents from the FCT. Either FCT was negligent or it simply did not cooperate, loathing perhaps to disclose sensitive documents that could unravel secrets.

Ms. de Villa said the auditors' findings are contained in "a qualified audit report" covering the years 2016, 2017, and 2018. In all three years, she said, the auditors repeated the non-expression of opinion.

In her article, she emphasized FCT's mishandling of financial statements as "major accounting deficiencies". (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZFXKzvQqYY).

As a practical matter, the "deficiencies" are hints of irregularities called out for years by whistleblowers and concerned FCT members but remained unresolved. The latest audit simply confirmed this. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/10/fct-opens-its-mouth-with-warning-to.html).

A big question that remains unanswered is this one posed by Ms. de Villa: "Why after more than 10 years would FCT Board suddenly reveal massive payments and serious adjustments to its financial statements?" 

FCT has so far gone through two audits. Earlier on, it hired SRCO Professional Corporation, a full-service public accounting and consulting firm established in 2010. Later, it contracted the services of Yale PGC LLP, an accounting and audit company founded in 1953.

But the clarity demanded by whistleblowers and concerned members to the so-called $678,000 payables that FCT had paid to claimants has not been addressed. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/09/fct-officials-oppose-audit.html).

"Neither engagements have shed light on the $678,000 questionable salaries, allowances, and legal costs that surfaced after the 2017 $5.9M sale of the Parliament (Street) building," Ms. de Villa wrote. 

That structure in downtown Toronto had been depicted as "cockroach and mice-infested" yet it fetched such a sizeable amount that enabled FCT to purchase a new home (an old fixer-upper actually) and triggered an avalanche of money claims.

"For the last five years," Ms. de Villa stated, "concerned members have yet to see FCT publicly own or admit to mistakes they made, much less correct those mistakes" adverted to (but never explained) in 2019 by Dr. Nanette De Villa (no relation) who suggested laying them to rest.

Two years earlier, Rey Tolentino. then FCT chairman, stressed the need for an audit in a memorandum to board members on March 19, 2017. “What could happen if we simply do it the way we have been doing in the past, or the way we have been led to believe when it comes to these payables? Why is an audit of our large payables necessary?” 

“The Board," he said, "is subject to questions of irregularity, impropriety or negligence if it cannot explain and justify the approval and processing of these large disbursements to the membership.”

Ms. de Villa credited concerned members for their determination to get at the bottom of the financial issues. "If not for their persistence and perseverance, the 2021 Third-Party Audit would not have happened". 

"FCT’s non-compliant cash accounting system, weak financial controls, and flawed record-keeping would persist and would not have been officially flagged as a deficiency," she added. (Ms. de Villa's full story is at: https://www.atinitonews.com/2021/12/audit-confirms-fcts-major-accounting-deficiencies/).

(Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).

Martial Law Anthem Rallies New Voters in 2022 Polls

Volume 3, Issue No. 18

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 and beyond . . . . . .

 

Our latest as of Wednesday, December 15, 2021 

~ We celebrate in songs our triumphs and disappointments, our loves and heartaches, the passage of time, the changing of the guards, etc. One song that harks back to moments of despair in the homeland now gets resurrected, finds new meaning, and is happily embraced by a new crop of Filipino voters. Obviously, times have significantly changed. The team of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Mayor Sara Duterte, the candidates for president and vice president, respectively, of the Philippines in the May 2022 elections, has repurposed a historic anthem, and it's attracting a huge following.

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MARTSA NG BAGONG LIPUNAN

Old Song Might Pave Way to BBM-Sara Win

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife." - Kahlil Gibran

TORONTO - The song/march synonymous with the martial law rule of strongman Ferdinand Marcos is making a dramatic comeback, regurgitated from the vault, and over these past weeks, is pulling in masses of people to the election campaign of his namesake son, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and teammate Inday Sara Duterte.

Officially known as the March of the New Society or Martsa ng Bagong Lipunan, the hymn has found easy acceptance among the massive crowds that accompany the motorcades of the two scions of controversial political leaders campaigning for the presidency and vice presidency of the Philippines in the general elections on May 9, 2022.

Together they have formed the well-liked BBM-Sara tandem, which as of the latest independent survey, tops their opponents by a wide margin - Bongbong Marcos scoring 51.9 percent (his closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo has 20.2 percent), and Sara Duterte takes in 54.8 percent (her immediate challenger, Dr. Willie Ong, gets only 11.2 percent). (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/12/groundswell-of-support-for-bongbong-sara.html).

How the song came about two days after the imposition of martial law on September 21, 1972, does not seem to bother this batch of young voters belonging to the Generation X and Millennials demographics, for they appear to have a vague idea of those years of military rule, forced disappearances, repression, suspension of civil rights, and the shutdown of disobedient media.

The rapid outgrowth of the song attests to its newfound popularity. Some bands have jazzed it up, others rendered their own versions to the extent that there are now at least ten interpretations by vocalists, choral groups, instrumentalists, and rock bands. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVspXIU3pJU).

At the time I heard it in the BBM-Sara campaign days ago, the lyrics surprisingly struck a sympathetic and emotional chord than when they sounded and sung during the martial law years in the Philippines in the seventies and eighties. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3yBt0_0Ldw).

Back then I knew, everyone knew, it was a rallying cry to soften the image of the dictatorship and attract wide support for the regime. Marcos the strongman had wanted the world to know that his totalitarian rule was "a smiling martial law".

It was a hard sell, particularly for people who were thrown out of their jobs, like myself, upon the closure of newspapers and radio and television stations across the country. I couldn't imagine "a smiling martial law" when its effect on me was personally devastating. More painful than being forcibly laid off, I also lost a loved one, my wife.

Now, over four decades later in Toronto, I had goosebumps as I listened intently to the song, relishing the brilliant Tagalog word its writer - Levi Celerio, the composer, lyricist, and National Artist of the Philippines for Music and Literature - had put into the music of Felipe Padilla de Leon, the classical music composer, conductor, scholar, and also a National Artist of the Philippines.

It's the one and the same song/march actually. But the circumstances of it being pressed on voters' consciousness are not exactly alike.

There's the alluring promise of a new day, perhaps very much unlike the immediate past and present dispensation that had made solemn vows but never redeem them. In BBM-Sara, I see the fulfillment of long-held aspirations for the country. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdt5KqgLe8o).

This particular stanza touches me like no other for its symbolism and deep meaning: "Ang gabi'y nagmaliw nang ganap/at lumipas na ang magdamag/Madaling araw ay nagdiriwang/may umagang namasdan/Ngumiti na ang pag-asa sa umagang anong ganda". 

The literal translation by Wikipedia goes like this: "As the darkness ends/and as night goes away/The dawn celebrates as daybreak comes/Hope smiles down on us/on this glorious new day!" I believe I'm missing the feel and nuance of the original. The delicacy of Tagalog (or Pilipino language) is hard to find in English, thus the translation feels lifeless. The essence is gone.

Many video commenters, easily noticeable as the new voters in how they write and spell words and phrases, through the use of smartphones, express their admiration for the song that they attest brings pride and tears and a feeling of belonging.

For the boomer generation I belong in, the Martsa ng Bagong Lipunan was a superficial instrument to mask the excesses of Marcos's autocratic rule. It was mocked, if secretly for fear of being arrested and jailed.

Times have changed obviously. The song is now greeted for its powerful message to come together as one people, and not for poignant reminders of a tyrannical past. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).

Groundswell of Support for Bongbong-Sara

Volume 3, Issue No. 17

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, December 13, 2021 

~ From surveys, news accounts, and film footages of their caravans, the groundswell of mass support appears genuinely spontaneous for the team of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Mayor Sara Duterte, the candidates for president and vice president, respectively of the Philippines in the May 2022 elections. Collectively referred to by the people as BBM-Sara, the duo has been a megahit among voters despite opposition attempts to capitalize on their parents' alleged wrongdoings.

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BBM-SARA ON THE MAY 2022 PHILIPPINE ELECTIONS

Their Team-Up Looks Like a Sure Winner

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Elections belong to the people.” - Abraham Lincoln

TORONTO - Vlogs after vlogs after vlogs, the groundswell of mass support is recorded in high definition videos by hundreds of citizens and citizen journalists in cities and towns in the Philippines visited by candidates Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Inday Sara Duterte, the duo popularly called BBM-Sara.

He is running for president; she for vice president, in the May 9, 2022 elections. Four other candidates - current Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Panfilo Lacson and Manny Pacquiao, and Manila Mayaor Isko Moreno - contest the top post. The winner will replace incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte who by law is termed out after six years in office. 

Watching extensive video coverage on social media alone, the turnout wherever they go around looks spontaneous despite claims and counterclaims that some candidates are paying off crowds to show up at motorcades and gatherings.

Elections are five months away but the beating of partisan political drums are getting louder and louder such as it has reached the Toronto western suburb of Mississauga where supporters of Ms. Robredo early this month undertook a motorcade of about a hundred cars, after which they held a one-hour program described by organizers as "packed with cheers".

The gambit, initiated by locals who hail from Bicol (the region Ms. Robredo comes from), may have been influenced by her low ratings, poor media positioning, and a series of critical gaffes that put into question her leadership and management competence. 

One survey by Publicus Asia Inc. published on Monday, December 13 in The Manila Times, showed that top contender Bongbong Marcos is way ahead of the pack while Ms. Robredo stays at a far distance.

"Over half of the respondents, at 51.9 percent, tagged Marcos as their preferred choice for president," the survey says. It was a 2.6 percent improvement from his previous score of 49.3 percent.

Compare that with Ms. Robredo's 20.2 percent and one can see why her supporters are drumbeating for her in every imaginable way, even here in Toronto. 

The rest of the presidential candidates received the worst, namely, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno at 7.9 percent; Senator Bong Go (who has already withdrawn), 3.9 percent; Senator Panfilo Lacson, 3.4 percent; and Senator Manny Pacquiao, 2.3 percent.

Marcos's running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, daughter of President Duterte, was even more impressive. 

The presidential daughter was the choice pick of 54.8 percent of the respondents. Her opponents in the vice presidential race are equally in the doldrums, namely, Dr. Willie Ong at 11.2 percent; Senate President Vicente Sotto, 11 percent; Senator Kiko Pangilinan, 9.7 percent; and Lito Atienza, 1.5 percent.

The survey findings appear to confirm what the many different vlogs are showing - a groundswell of support for the BBM-Sara team.

Among those rooting for Ms. Robredo in the recent Toronto initiative were known fans of another Bicolana, Loida Nicolas Lewis, national chair of US Filipinos for Good Governance, based in Virginia. She recently coordinated an interfaith prayer zoom for Ms. Robredo and a Global Filipinos for Leni Summit 3. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).