Filipino Web Magazine : May 2022

Saturday, 28 May 2022

Taste of Manila Organizers Get Warning

Volume 3, Issue No. 54

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 Saturday, May 28, 2022

~ Authorities have ordered a dubious not-for-profit organization to "cease and desist" using the corporate logo of the City of Toronto on its posters and website promoting a proposed Taste of Manila festival in summer. Officials also clarified that the City "is not providing financial support to the Taste of Manila." The International Entertainment Company (IEC), the purported not-for-profit, has neither confirmed nor denied reports that it was canceling ToM for lack of support.

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CEASE AND DESIST ORDER OUT

Stop Using Toronto Logo, City Tells ToM Officials

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Men who thought of themselves as gods fell the farthest, and the hardest.” ― Nenia Campbell

TORONTO - The minister showed off the poster, smiling, as he sat inside a Filipino restaurant, and then somebody snapped a picture which found its way later on social media, particularly on Facebook.

The photo is one of the publicity items being brandished by a dubious group, the International Entertainment Company (IEC) which purports to be a not-for-profit organization that came into being only last month, April 5, in fact.

The man beaming with pride in that snapshot is Marco Mendicino, Member of Parliament for Eglinton-Lawrence, and Minister for Public Safety in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet. He is a lawyer quite well-known in the Filipino community.

Mendicino's untainted reputation and wholesome demeanor endear him to Filipinos, which is perhaps why the IEC had picked him for the photo op. To be clear, he is not the issue here.

The big issue is the poster he was holding that essentially makes him the poster boy for the Taste of Manila (ToM) festival being proposed by IEC in summer. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/is-iec-legit-nfp-org.html).

At the bottom of the poster is the corporate logo of the City of Toronto situated beside the coat of arms of the Philippines. The two iconic symbols convey a powerful imagery that elevates ToM, at least visually, to an event seemingly approved officially by the City and the Philippine government.

That is further from the truth. But given the bad habit of IEC of stealing content, photos, and videos like what it filched from The Filipino Web Channel months ago, the misappropriation of the symbols does not seem to bother IEC officials whoever they are.

One IEC official, Ramon Datol aka Mondee, denied the stealing and even justified the act. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd02DO503DU9). (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/04/lies-incompetence-teem-in-proposed-2022.html).

Notwithstanding efforts being conducted by IEC to promote ToM via posters and online sites, the City "is not providing financial support to the Taste of Manila," according to a City official. That means IEC's use of Toronto's corporate logo is prohibited.

Authorities have also ordered IEC and ToM organizers to "cease and desist" from utilizing the City's corporate logo on its posters and website to market ToM. (See collage). "The logo, as an Official Mark, may only be used to specifically identify officially endorsed City business".

Unstated in the order sent out this week is the potential copyright infringement by IEC on a property owned by the City. A similar situation has happened recently when the IEC stole and manipulated video footage taken from past videos of ToM by The Filipino Web Channel. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ).

As in the past, IEC officials have not returned a request for comment. Questions emailed to them have not been answered as of this writing today, May 28.

The IEC also has not confirmed nor denied reports that it was canceling the ToM festival slated in August for lack of sponsors and financial support.

Previously, however, IEC official Cecille Araneta boasted that she has the money to fund ToM. Self-declared ToM founder Rolly Mangante also claimed an influx of corporate sponsors. The claims could not be verified. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-arVEgNPQ4I).

ToM had its last staging in August 2019 under a new organizer, the Philippine Legacy and Cultural Alliance (PLACA), which took over from another organization led by Mangante. The year prior, the City of Toronto rescued it from bankruptcy by waiving fees due the city and thus enabled ToM to have its festival in 2018.

Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Congress Proclaims Marcos President, Duterte Vice President

Volume 3, Issue No. 53

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Wednesday, May 25, 2022

~ Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte are now officially President and Vice President, respectively, of the Philippines. The Congress, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate and convened as the National Board of Canvassers, made the proclamation on Wednesday after tallying the votes from the May 9, 2022 elections.

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IT'S NOW OFFICIAL

Bongbong Is President, Sara Vice President

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

TORONTO - The Philippine Congress, convened as the National Board of Canvassers, officially proclaimed on Wednesday (May 25, 2022, Manila time) Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. President and Sara Duterte Vice President.

Marcos takes office as the 17th President on June 30 as President Rodrigo Roa Duterte exits on the same day after serving six years, the same length of time Marcos will hold the highest elective office in the land.

Sara Duterte, the former mayor of Davao City, replaces Vice President Leni Robredo who lost in the May 9, 2022 elections, garnering less than half of the over 31-million votes her opponent, Marcos, had posted.

The election of Marcos and Duterte is historic. For one, the polls had the biggest voter turnout in any election with Marcos amassing an estimated 60 percent and Duterte 61.1 percent of the 67 million registered voters.

(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/marcos-duterte-in-landslide-win.html).

Marcos will occupy the top post in the country - only the third offspring of a former president - his father and namesake, Ferdinand "Ferdie" of "Ka Ferdie" Marcos Sr., had held it for nearly two decades (1965 to 1986) before he was toppled in a "People Power" revolution.

The first, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, president from 2001 to 2010, is the daughter of Diosdado Macapagal who was president from 1961 to 1965 and was succeeded by Marcos Sr.

The second was Benigno Aquino III who was president from 2010 to 2016. He was the son of Corazon Aquino who had ascended the presidency in 1986 (through 1992) in the aftermath of a revolt that had deposed Marcos Sr. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).

Friday, 20 May 2022

Bongbong Marcos: Rock Star of Philippine Politics

Volume 3, Issue No. 52

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, May 20, 2022

~ The historic mandate is undeniably huge: more than 31 million votes for each of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, namely, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte, respectively. What he had dreamt of in his teen years - to be a rock star - has come to be realized. Now, Marcos, fondly called BBM and/or Bongbong, is THE rock star of Philippine politics, just as Sara Duterte is.

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FERDINAND "BONGBONG" MARCOS JR.

'Rock Star' of Philippine Politics

Over 31-M Voters Chose Him To Be the Next President

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

TORONTO - In his youth not too long ago, Bongbong Marcos (formally Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) dreamt of becoming a musician. And an astronaut.

The juvenile ambitions put a time frame to the moment he had made them known. Only one came to be realized somewhat, and the other just wished away for its impossibility. It was the late sixties and early seventies.

The Philippines was facing a revolution of sorts - in the field of music - where a handful of teenagers similarly inclined as Bongbong were itching to carve the local music scene into a lyrical, more patriotic mode.

(This article was originally written for the May 2022 issue of Filipinos Making Waves newspaper here in Toronto: www.filipinosmakingwaves.com).

That was the period of transformation, the change spearheaded by a new music genre called Manila Sound originated by the Hotdog band composed of brothers Dennis Garcia and Rene Garcia; La Salle Greenhills' buddies Lorrie Ilustre and Ramon Torralba; Jess Garcia of Ateneo, and later Ella del Rosario of Assumption Convent as female vocalist.

Manila Sound eventually gave way to OPM, the Original Pilipino Music, which saw the full blossoming of local talents, and the birth of such mega-hits as Pers Lab (composed by now-Toronto resident Mon Torralba), Manila, Bongga Ka 'Day, Annie Batungbakal, and many more.

Perhaps, OPM is entwined with the evolution of Bongbong Marcos from a youthful dreamer to what we know today as the soon-to-be President of the Philippines who won a historic landslide victory along with incoming Vice President Sara Duterte.

He had visualized himself not just as a musician but as a rock star, undoubtedly influenced by the rising tide of OPM that was sweeping the country then. He said inherited the love for music from his mother, the former first lady Imelda R. Marcos.

"I'm jealous of you," he tells singer Toni Gonzaga. "I wanted to be a musician," he stresses. "Dalawa lang ang ambisyon ko nung maliit, when I was about 12 years old - maging rock star . . . maging astronaut".

Bongbong juxtaposes that seemingly innocuous moment when OPM was just beginning with the vision of his father - Ferdinand "Ferdie" Marcos Sr., who was first elected president in 1965, reelected in 1969, became a strongman in 1972, and toppled in a "people power" revolt in 1986.

"He brought a sense of nationhood. We were proud to be Filipinos. And we went out abroad and say we're Filipinos," he informs Gonzaga, who is also a podcaster, in an interview aired in September 2021. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EwMAiqLUhM).

" . . . And not a small part of that is OPM (Original Pilipino Music) because it's the culture. You learn about this. It's what it means to be a Pinoy, to be Filipino. And that happened during his time," he explains.

That statement, as spontaneous as it was made, was an unsolicited tribute to OPM in general, and to the group that made it possible up to this day.

His mention of OPM in relation to Filipino pride and in the larger context of nationhood shows a yearning for Filipino unity that was at the core of his political campaign and is now his mandate for governance.

As he correctly pointed out, OPM, though always there in another setting but untapped, "is the culture" wanting full acceptance by Filipinos themselves. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMIkU9wOXN0).

Blame the elder Marcos for everything that went wrong in his tenure, but he had the will to institutionalize it through programs led by Mrs. Marcos.

Bongbong had recognized what his father meant, and OPM was just one vehicle to achieve the unity that had evaded his father but now sits on his lap to attain.

His dream of becoming a musician did not exactly slip away. At a celebration over four decades ago aboard the presidential yacht cruising Manila Bay, Bongbog belted out one of the Hotdog band's signature songs - Pers Lab or Ikaw ang Miss Universe ng Buhay Ko. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6YDy_SvYWg).

Which of the two, Pers Lab songwriter Torralba, who was on the ship with the band, doesn't remember.

Whatever it was, Bongbong had his one shining moment then as a musician, not quite a rock star in the musical firmament but now as THE "Rock Star of Philippine Politics" as the President of the Philippines with the biggest popular mandate in history. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Marcos-Duterte in Landslide Win

Volume 3, Issue No. 51

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Tuesday, May 10, 2022

~ A huge turnout of an estimated 67 million voters appears to propel the scions of two political families in the Philippines to the two highest public offices in the land, the presidency and vice presidency, according to the latest unofficial results from the capital Manila. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte are poised to notch a historic landslide win in the May 9, 2022 elections.

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PHILIPPINE ELECTIONS FOR PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT

Unofficial Tally: It's Marcos and Duterte

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

TORONTO - A landslide win appears imminent for the scions of two political families - Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte - in the race for president and vice president of the Philippines, unofficial results showed Tuesday, a day after a huge turnout of the more than 67 million registered voters.

Marcos, the 64-year-old former senator and namesake son of the former strongman who was deposed in 1986, had amassed 58.8 percent of the votes, according to the latest unofficial figures.

His running mate for vice president, the 43-year-old Sara Duterte, mayor of Davao City and daughter of current President Rodrigo Duterte, had collected 61.1 percent of the votes.

While the counting has not concluded yet, Marcos, without claiming victory, already thanked the nation for supporting him and Ms. Duterte in a video released by his campaign office.

Marcos would succeed Ms. Duterte's father in the presidency for a single six-year term starting on June 30. Sara Duterte, on the other hand, would replace the incumbent Leni Robredo as vice president. Robredo was Marcos' closest rival in the presidential contest, collecting nearly half the votes for Marcos. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).

Monday, 9 May 2022

Feature: Mila Nabor Cuachon and Casa Manila

Volume 3, Issue No. 50

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Monday, May 9, 2022

~ Just as popular as the Casa Manila restaurant is its CEO and creative director, Mila Nabor Cuachon - artist, interior designer, and a former beauty queen. Philippine diplomats and a small media group had the chance to talk with her over a meal of choice Filipino dishes one Friday afternoon at the end of the first-ever Filipino Restaurant Month in Toronto. In between bites, she related her story and the restaurant's in such candidness and great detail that made us dumbfounded.

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CASA MANILA'S MILA NABOR CUACHON

A Life of Ironies and Contradictions

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm quiet interchange of sentiments". - Samuel Johnson

TORONTO - The ironies and contradictions Ms. Mila Nabor Cuachon lived through the years make for great strides and are the very things that define her then and now as a person.

She and husband Rizalde Cuachon own and manage Casa Manila, the restaurant on York Mills Rd. that best recreates authentic Filipino food in an atmosphere that typifies upscale eateries in the homeland

On a recent visit there, Ms. Mila joined us - Consul General Orontes Castro, Consul Mary Grace Villamayor, and a small media group consisting of Baby K. Jimenez, the foremost entertainment writer; Michelle Chermaine Ramos, the remarkable multi-disciplinary artist and journalist; and this reporter.

The schedule prepared by the Consulate was to visit three Filipino restaurants in the North York area - Casa Manila, Wilson Haus of Lechon, and Republika Restobar and Grill, in that order - on Friday, April 29, to wind up the month-long Filipino Restaurant Month, a joint project of the Department of Tourism, the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa, and the consulates in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y9GuMe9HeI).

Casa Manila was our first stop. When we came in at noon, Rizalde was already entertaining a lady broadcaster, cameraman, and producer for another media entity. He interrupted their conversation to welcome us and directed us to the table where we would gather.

Ms. Mila arrived at the resto almost at the same time we did but didn't join us right away as she was ushering customers. Once done, she seated herself beside Congen Castro facing us. The other media people occupied an adjoining table close enough to hear what was going on.

Soon after the initial courtesies, the stories began to flow. Ms. Mila was now presiding over a conversation - or was it a monologue? - that hovered between the private and personal to the more public aspect of her life made colorful by youthful inexperience and indecisions. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRjSJ2jdEk4).

The mouthwatering dishes were now being served but instead of the scrumptious food occupying our attention, the unexpected story-telling had begun. We were beguiled, even dumbfounded by her candidness in opening up about life's adventures from when she was a teenager on the cusp of making a big name for herself.

Quite an extraordinary day it was for us. What was meant to be a friendly lunch gathering to taste the food quickly turned into a juicy hours-long rap session. Her narrative, frank and uninhibited, was coming out in a steady stream, cut off only by arriving patrons.

Though unprompted, Ms. Mila had a lot to say about herself. Her enduring account is the spice of life that both teaches and enriches the heart and the soul.

Her presence made for a relaxed yet lively table talk, intuitive in fact, as she took us on a journey of her life, from childhood to teen years to capturing a beauty title to marriage to widowhood to remarriage to owning and managing Casa Manila, which is her outlet for the love of cooking and an artistic passion for design and fashion.

In all those times, the ironies and contradictions were there and she lived through them almost unscathed. Those appear to be the defining moment of her life.

For example, she says she hated beauty contests but ended up joining one and winning the title. Archival records showed a disgruntled competitor had referred to the pageant as a "cattle market".

More than four decades ago, a young and comely Maria Milagros Guidote Nabor, crowned Miss Philippines beforehand, represented the country in the Miss World 1980 pageant in London, England.

A year prior, at age 19, the "Oriental beauty" (described by the Toronto Star) as she was, was named "Miss Filipinas Canada" in a contest held at the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto.

Ms. Mila happily recalls meeting with Agnes Miranda, the recently-elected president of Philippine Independence Day Council, who quipped upon seeing her: "Oh, you're very pretty, would you like to join a local beauty contest?"

To which she replied, according to her: "No thanks. I'm already modeling and I don't believe in beauty contests because I was big when I was young".

"So I had a little bit of prejudice against beauty contests but she (Agnes) basically said to me, 'listen, if you win here you will go to the Philippines and you will compete in the Miss Philippines Universe blah blah blah'. x x x I was 19 then. And then I said, what are the prizes?" she laughs remembering the exchange.

Her glow hasn't changed much. The glory of yesteryears is very much with her. The looks, poise, confidence, and dignity of a queen are still striking. Her manner of speaking is that of an intellectual, which is consistent with her declaration that she "is a very strong believer in the power of the mind".

Ms. Mila's life and love stories are stuff for a book and maybe a movie. Every little detail manifests a struggle for survival and recognition as a child growing up, as a beauty contestant, as a pageant queen, as a wife and mother, and as an entrepreneur staking a claim in a highly-competitive industry.

A visit to the restaurant on York Mills Rd. will confirm the artist in her. Native artworks and flowering greens adorned the incommodious setting, but who cares? The food is excellent, the ambience refreshing, and there's a quick dive into bits of Philippine history.

Ms. Mila says she comes from a family of cooks in Angeles, Pampanga. On yearly visits from abroad, she fell in love with Filipino food. At an early stage, however, she admits: "I didn't like Filipino food growing up. I didn't. Honestly, I preferred Chinese (food) because it was freshly cooked".

In the context of her owning Casa Manila, that statement is quite a revelation. And so, her utter dislike for Filipino food then has actually inspired her to strive for a more healthy regimen in preparing food at the resto.

She poses a rhetorical question: "Why is Filipino food unhealthy? Why is it that in my own family, there's heart disease, there's high blood? There's this, there's that, . . . diabetes. So I had to face it".

She explains: "I bought a business and I don't want to buy food that kills you, 'cause I will not be successful. I'm a firm believer that you should not get into business unless you love your product. x x x I never wanted a Filipino restaurant. I'm more into design and fashion. I eat with my eyes . . . I am aesthetic, meaning that my art is interiors".

Surely, Casa Manila is there, a thriving mainstream restaurant that gives meaning to all that Ms. Mila has endeavoured to do . . . amidst the disdain she previously had. Life truly is a dichotomy. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).

Friday, 6 May 2022

Is IEC a Legit NFP Org?

Volume 3, Issue No. 49

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, May 6, 2022

~ A recently-sprang group called "International Entertainment Company" (IEC) is fronting as "the official and sole organizer" of a proposal to salvage the moribund Taste of Manila this summer. A publicist says IEC headed by a certain Cecille Araneta is a not-for-profit organization "registered" with Canada Revenue Agency. That claim is rejected by the CRA itself. IEC is not registered as such. What is it then? Is this another dishonest scheme being perpetrated on the Filipino community by individuals with dubious backgrounds and questionable motives?

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INTERNATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY

ToM Organizer Is Not Listed as Not-for-Profit

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie.” ― Yevgeny Yevtushenko

TORONTO - An alleged not-for-profit organization eyeing to mount a 2022 version of the Taste of Manila (ToM) festival is not on the official government roster of charities, which means it could be a fly-by-night organization.

The so-called "International Entertainment Company" (IEC) reportedly headed by a certain Cecille Araneta has been publicizing its efforts to revive ToM in its traditional venue at Little Manila, a North York neighbourhood that had been its home since ToM first came to light in 2014.

(Videos of Araneta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdTnX700_a8 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-arVEgNPQ4I). Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/04/who-exactly-is-going-to-run-2022-taste.html

"With respect to the entity you referenced, based on the name provided," a CRA official told this reporter, "we can confirm that, according to CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) records, they are not currently, nor have they previously, been registered as a charity".

According to publicist Tony San Juan, the group's de facto spokesman, IEC has been designated as "the official and sole organizer of the 'Taste of Manila' event in Toronto" after it entered into a "special contractual arrangement" with self-declared ToM founder Rolly Mangante who actually stole the concept from officials of the Philippine Consulate where he had worked as a driver.

San Juan said in an article published in late March in an online blog that the "International Entertainment Company (IEC), led by Cecile O. Araneta, a not-for-profit organization (is) registered with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Ontario's Ministry of Government and Consumer Services".

But a CRA official explained that "For public transparency purposes, when a charity is registered, the CRA publishes this information in its List of charities". IEC is not on that list.

There is no available information about the IEC and/or the people behind it. Searching the internet is of no help either. It just sprang from nowhere soon as city and health authorities announced an easing of restrictions in communal settings owing to COVID. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ).

San Juan emceed the soft launch of the proposed ToM at the Top Silog restaurant on Sunday, April 10, 2022. Attendees to the event included Araneta, Mangante, podcaster Ramon Datol, Danna Luna alias Lovely, Pepito Torralba, Toronto Councillor James Pasternak, and a cheering squad of supporters.

All these officials have been tight-lipped about ToM and the three not-for-profit organizations fronting as the new organizers. Because of mismanagement and allegations of financial fraud, ToM had gone bankrupt even before its last staging in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic was the final nail in the coffin that sealed its fate.

With nothing to show as a historical track record, the new organizers consisting of IEC, International Taste of Manila, and Taste of Manila Virtual Presentation, stole film footage of past ToM events from The Filipino Web Channel and published it on social media like it was their own.

When confronted for looting the videos, Ramon Datol, one of the new organizers, claimed the steal did not happen as the creator did not seek permission from ToM before producing the videos in question. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd02DO503DU). Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/04/lies-incompetence-teem-in-proposed-2022.html

Self-described as a sportswriter, Datol is best known for his money-making venture called Anghel ng Tahanan beauty contest which catered to homesick and lovesick caregivers in the Greater Toronto Area.

On the other hand, Araneta says she's a producer, performer, singer, and somebody who wants to see everybody in the community happy.

Luna is supposed to be an "international reporter" but whether she writes about what, for what, and since when is also questionable. The "body of work" she has consisted mainly of childish postings on Facebook. In fact, she could not even write a decent sentence without lapses in grammar.

Mangante is of course the driver turned "founder" of ToM. His wife Nieves Mangante is the "other face" (the second is Araneta) in the manipulated film footage stolen from The Filipino Web Channel.

So, what do we make of IEC? What do we make of Araneta, Datol, Mangante, Luna, and the others? Is another fraudulent scheme in the offing via ToM? Just asking.