Mondee's Yarn Spun for His Protection

Volume 3, Issue No. 59

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 Tuesday, June 14, 2022 

~ The mindless talking head aka podcaster the Filipino community, unfortunately, has to live through appears to be a practitioner of spin, in fact, long enough to be called a spinmeister. It's a trait he shares in common with two of his colleagues - the fake festival founder and the fake "reporter". Together, they form the scandalous Trio Los Bobos. Their secret existence is a cautionary tale for Filipinos inured to swindling. 

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A CAUTIONARY TALE

 Mondee's Atrocious Spin of the Truth

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.” ― P.G. Wodehouse

TORONTO - A recent podcast by a sportswriter, supposedly, named Mon Datol alias Mondee, sounded like a Golden Retriever yapping hard either for want of food or to attract attention.

The animal - and I didn't mean Mondee - has the loudest bark among hounds and could summon immediate notice, which was what his podcast was all about, an outlet for baseless whispers, idle talk, and fishmongers.

Generally, podcasts are intended to entertain, therefore, the podcaster is basically an entertainer. So, no matter how Mondee packages himself, he is a carnival barker, an entertainer, a very bad one at that, who thrives on schoolboy humor.

I can't think of a Tagalog equivalent for the retriever. However, for our purposes, "asong ulol" would be a good substitute. Again, I don't mean Mondee is an "asong ulol". It's what he dishes out that resembles an "asong ulol".

What strikes when he talks and foams at the side of his wide mouth is the feeling of being back in the boondocks of his native province somewhere in Central Luzon. There he is an NPA, a non-performing asset too lazy to milk farm animals but too eager to do it on humans.

Tone, accent, and everything, he sounds unmistakably like a Mondee the promdi, profane and lacking urbanity. As many people know, promdi is an allusion to "from the province". (Listen to him talk at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd02DO503DU).

That, I believe, explains why he's stuck in that Little Manila doghouse fancifully called studio he shares with two other members of his group, the Trio Los Bobos, namely, Rolly "Kabise" Mangante, and Dannasol Luna alias lovely (daw).

The three - Mondee, Kabise, and Lovely - control releasing information about a plan to stage a Taste of Manila (ToM) festival through a so-called not-for-profit headed by a Cecille Araneta who famously but ignorantly declared that the "national car" of the Philippines is the jeepney. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdTnX700_a8).

Araneta is also one of two fat faces in the video stolen from The Filipino Web Channel, and manipulated to promote ToM. The other face belongs to Kabise's wife, Nieves Mangante, who I initially thought was Araneta's twin because of their physical features. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ).

The video steal has triggered this back and forth between the Trio Los Bobos and Araneta, on the one hand, and this reporter, on the other. The quartet has neither acknowledged, nor give credit, nor apologize, nor pay for the video footage purloined from past video coverage of ToM.

Mondee's woeful howl targeted this reporter, evidently as a reaction to a number of articles exposing the workings of his group in promoting ToM, which is being salvaged from death by bankruptcy, mismanagement, and COVID-19. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/is-iec-legit-nfp-org.html).

He falsely reasoned that because he was a media colleague, I should not be writing about him and his cohorts. Hey, Mondee, didn't you say this: "We deliver the truth. The truth will set you free"? Why are you now spinning lies and distortions?

Well, for the record, I never knew the man. He's outside of my league in the foreign press corps. That's where I earned my glorious keep (and I'm not boasting), yes, writing for a global audience in world capitals, and not for small barrios hardly recognizable on maps. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE).

The only time I heard that Mondee was a "journalist" was when a reporter, a real colleague, visiting from Manila exclaimed upon seeing him: "Nandito na pala yan."

"Why?" I asked. "Well, he's a notorious Manila collector," she explained. 

"You mean customs collector?" I wondered. "No, no," she stressed. "He's a collector, the AC-DC (attack collect-defend collect) kind prevalent among those reporting for some local tabloids".

I have no way of confirming what was told to me in private. Besides, I was out of the loop in Manila working with foreign correspondents and covering local events relevant abroad.

I suppose that all the time Mondee was busy being a "collector" I was there in any of the main focuses of foreign news coverage requiring deep backgrounding, namely, the presidential Malacanang Palace, Congress, the Department of National Defense, and the Department of Foreign Affairs. All others came in second.

Between myself and Mondee, an ocean of difference exists, especially in matters of work. As a journalist, I covered presidents, department secretaries, generals, and those in the upper echelons of government. 

In comparison, Mondee as "sportswriter" then and podcaster now, beguiles and amuses talking with barangay captains, barangay tanods, police patola and the like, and those below the food chain.

With his knowledge or lack of it, Mondee would never qualify for the kind of job I had. Quite easily, however, he's fit for what he is presently doing - talking senselessly until his throat gives up.

President Rodrigo Duterte has condemned these AC-DC types, calling them "extortionists, the vultures of journalism, the group that gets killed the most". He said: "They continue to ask for more and more because their greed has no limit".

From the time I heard about Mondee, I stayed away from him. Having finished my term as a foreign correspondent, I did not want to be identified with him. He disgusts me. The Trio Los Bobos disgusts me. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).