Volume 3, 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 and beyond . . . . . .
Our latest as of Tuesday, February 1, 2022
~ Philippine and Canadian officials have been unwittingly sucked into endorsing virtual events presented last year and the year prior by two interrelated groups pushing for the revival of the once-successful-but-now-bankrupt Taste of Manila festival. The original organization behind it had been dissolved and replaced by another and another in rapid succession. The people fronting now are of dubious motives and interests. Perhaps a good reflection of their character is the video presentations they created - they contained stolen footage and images manipulated to serve their hidden agenda.
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TORONTO'S VERSION OF THE ART OF THE STEAL
Officials Suck In in Virtual Taste of Manila Fests
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“It's always easier to take something than work for it.” ―
TORONTO - The names are those of the powerful and influential people in governments of the Philippines and Canada, and of two dozen Filipino talents who shared their musical artistry.
Names like Francisco Noel R. Fernandez, Charge d'Affaires at the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa; Orontes V. Castro, Philippine Consul General in Toronto; Mrs. Demphna Du-Naga Assistant Secretary, Department of Trade;
Marco Mendicino and Salma Zahid, both Members of Parliament; Doug Ford, Ontario Premier; Roman Baber, Member of Provincial Parliament; Toronto Mayor John Tory; City Councillor James Pasternak.
They contributed their time and lent the prestige of their office in the making of a virtual Taste of Manila event in August 2020 without knowing they were endorsing what could be, or what may turn out to be, a potentially fraudulent business scheme.
"Virtual ToM" was repeated last year with the usual suspects on board. That it happened again appears to suggest the organizers made a decent amount of money from sponsorships and donations. We don't know really, and nobody's talking.
But what the invitees - those officials and talents - didn't know was that the presentation would not have been comprehensive without historical context, a gap easily filled in by film footage stolen, then manipulated and incorporated in what had been passed on as the 2020 version of a virtual Taste of Manila top-billed as "Super Saya".
ToM's significance was not in the last two (2020 and 2021) virtual stagings but in ToM's prior-to-COVID history from 2014 to 2019. That was the part the new organizers didn't have. So they stole them in broad daylight from my YouTube outlet The Filipino Web Channel.
"Detestable" is a mild term to describe the steal by this bunch of pot-bellied men and women seeking new validation as exponents of wholesome community activities.
There's a clear attempt to shine, whatever it takes apparently, so they resort to dirty tactics, unaware that their every move is being watched by those who knew how they ply their trade.
Call them what you may - purloiner, larcener, pilferer. thief, robber, crook, pirate, bandit, etc., they have one thing in common: they steal, and shamelessly at that.
Steal, says the dictionary, is the act of taking the property of another without right or permission. It's also defined as "to present or use someone else's words or ideas as one's own".
The Criminal Code of Canada equates steal to theft. Steal means to commit theft. Theft is committed "when a person fraudulently and without colour of right takes, converts anything with intent to deprive, temporarily or absolutely, the owner of it".
Twice in as many years, two groups whose officers are basically the same but sporting different names, have appropriated select footage of videos I had taken during my coverage of the yearly Taste of Manila (ToM) street festival beginning in 2014. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZeQk-wySXY).
Neither one nor the other sought permission to use the copyrighted material in their promotional effort to reboot ToM through virtual presentations in 2020 when the pandemic hit, and again last year. ToM's fate is practically doomed, its original crew has disbanded, and its funds, if ever there were any, have been depleted.
I was unaware that my ToM videos were being wantonly replicated and manipulated by the upstart Philippine Community Events and Services Ontario (very aptly abbreviated to PESO) in 2020, and by an unknown organization masquerading as, or is actually, Tomz Radio Toronto (TRT).
No luck in finding that out. Its email address that I have used to complain against their practice is perhaps a non-functioning decoration to impress and look legitimate. I say this after waiting for more than three weeks for a response from any responsible person in TRT. There's none as of this writing.
Note that some PESO officers are also officers of TRT. There's an intermingling of interests ostensibly to achieve the unstated goal of raking in money from event sponsors. The death by coronavirus of the original ToM has displaced some people and threw a monkey wrench into their future plans.
The self-proclaimed founder of ToM, Rolly Mangante, a retired chauffeur of the Philippine Consulate Toronto, holds himself up either as CEO or marketing manager. (Related story at: https://www.balita.ca/taste-of-manila-goes-distasteful-one-street-festival-and-three-financial-reports/).
The omnipresent Philip Beloso, most times a photo hugger and sometimes a photobomber, is PESO president. He is likewise with the trouble-ridden Filipino Centre Toronto, and occasionally, a garrulous emcee for some community events. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-PmytZ9wDE).
PESO's chief of staff is a certain Cecile Araneta, the plump lady whose image was spliced into my video with Mangante's chubby wife Nieves Mangante. At first glance, the women look identical, almost like twins. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ). Araneta is also president and COO of TRT.
The tireless chatterbox Mon Datol of the harebrained "Anghel ng Tahanan" (or was it "Ilaw ng Kusina"?) fame is PESO's media director/executive adviser, and radio station manager of TRT.
So what do these seemingly incestuous, intra-corporate relationships indicate? Who does one hold accountable for the blatant breach of law and ethics?
I believe supporters and sponsors of the virtual presentations should be made aware of the amount of duplicity the people of PESO and TRT are engaged in. Nobody wants to get entangled in suits or public outcries of deceitful practices.
PESO and TRT did not only victimize me and their sponsors, they also victimized Philippine diplomats, members of Canada's Parliament, members of the Ontario legislative assembly, Toronto City officials, and the talents who performed for the virtual presentation.
I don't think they would have acquiesced if they knew PESO and TRT and the people behind them do not represent Filipinos in Canada. If ever they do, they represent the worst kind. Though there are high-profile thieves in the Filipino community, their presence in several Filipino organizations does not in any way reflect on the entire Filipino diaspora.
Stealing is an act too serious to pass. Plagiarism is stealing as it involves copying words and images or co-opting someone else's ideas without citing the original work. "Plagiarism is wrong," says Wikipedia, "because it doesn't give credit where credit is due - to the person or entity that originally created the work".
PESO and TRT should know. Or are they too dumb to know that? (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).
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