Was MPF Filipino or Chinese Celebration?

Volume 4, Issue No. 12

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, August 16, 2022 

~ The celebration was a long time coming. Mabuhay Philippines Festival managed to pull its two-day event this past weekend to live up to its declared theme: "Bangon" or Rise. Indeed, the festivity literally buoyed up the spirit and away from the gloom of the coronavirus pandemic. One misnomer happened though. What should have been an all-Filipino occasion had crossed a controversial political line with the inclusion of an overwhelming number of Falun Dafa or Falun Gong practitioners in a parade that was supposed to showcase a Filipino religious-historical tradition personified by local beauty queens. A santacruzan with a Chinese marching band? Yes, it was. And it's not a joke either.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

FALUN DAFA OUTNUMBERS FILIPINOS IN THEIR OWN FIESTA

Mabuhay Philippines Festival Goes Chinese

Complete with a Marching Band, They Dominated the Parade

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Generosity without delicacy, like wit without judgement, generally gives as much pain as pleasure.” ― Frances Burney

TORONTO - On Sunday, August 14, I thought I stumbled into the wrong event. 

But the site was perfectly alright, Nathan Phillips Square, where I covered the day before the opening ceremonies of the Mabuhay Philippines Festival (MPF), reputed to be "the longest running and the largest Philippine culture and heritage event in Toronto Canada".

Could my eyes be failing me? No, not really. What was going on was the continuation of the two-day festivity, an annual (save for two years at the height of the pandemic) undertaking by the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC), the umbrella of about 50 small organizations.

It looked strange that the sight that greeted me while lingering in the sweltering summer heat was two waves of men and women clad in blue and white vests, pants, and matching headdresses; and the others, in bright yellow pantsuits, and yellow headgear.

They are actually Chinese, or, to be politically correct, Taiwanese, the practitioners of Falun Dafa or Falun Gong which is "an ancient spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition". (Full background of what Falun Gong is at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong).

Shortly before 3 p.m., the blue-and-white attired band marched into the square like soldiers prepping for a review. On the other side, the yellow-clad members with their distinctive banner quietly ambled in the shadows of Toronto City Hall.

PIDC had scheduled an afternoon parade, a santacruzan familiar to most Filipinos, around the block showcasing its bevy of beauty queens and backstopped by other celebrities from Edgar Sulit's IPEN (International Professional Entertainment Network). (More info at: https://www.facebook.com/ipencanada).

Wow, I said to myself, it's good to know that PIDC is very much committed to propagating a part of Philippine culture through the santacruzan, a religious-historical parade traditionally held in May in the homeland. (Background at: https://primer.com.ph/tips-guides/2016/03/30/understanding-the-santacruzan/).

I have nothing against the Chinese in the mainland and the Chinese in Taiwan but why include Falun Dafa in what ought to be a celebration of Philippine culture and heritage? Nobody was there to give an official answer.

A former PIDC official, however, ventured an opinion. The inclusion of Falun Dafa was an exercise in multiculturalism, it was explained. Toronto is a multicultural city. Besides, judging by the poor turnout, the MPF seemed uneventful and unexciting for many Filipinos to participate.

I might have been too early for the climactic moment, which was the performance by music artist Joey Albert in the early evening. Well, I did not have the time to wait that long, from 10:30 a.m. when the program began and broke nearly an hour later for lunch, and on again at 6 p.m. when it resumed.

I was looking for events to report on and stories to write, not entertainment to watch. That basically was the reason for the coverage. I accomplished the first one when Toronto Mayor John Tory gave in to a long-standing challenge to eat "balut", the duck egg embryo the Filipino menfolk believe is an aphrodisiac. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YzHpCtUJXs).

For non-Filipinos like the mayor, "balut" is a turnoff very much like the malodorous "bagoong," a condiment made of fermented fish or shrimp paste usually used as a salting ingredient in vegetable preparations like pinakbet or dinengdeng. So, it's quite a big deal once he had agreed to eat it, and did with so much gusto at MPF.

I've seen Falun Dafa in some past coverages but not this big. They dominated the quadrangle and their presence easily outnumbered visitors and guests to the MPF. And much to my further disappointment, they took prominence in the parade.

A viewer could not make up whether MPF was a Filipino or a Chinese event. For chrissakes, it was supposed to be a Filipino celebration that ended the hiatus from the pandemic.

For political reasons, Falun Dafa is banned in mainland China. Considering the conflict, it's not farfetched to think its presence in the parade was an expression of support by the MPF and PIDC to Falun Dafa versus mainland Chinese. (Full story at: https://thebl.com/china/falun-dafa-inspires-young-and-old-as-falun-dafa-day-is-celebrated-across-the-world.html).

Falun Dafa's inclusion in the MPF is a huge propaganda victory that tended to demonize the Chinese. Currently, Beijing and Taipei are saber-rattling over the recent visit to Taiwan of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Three other House members followed suit, aggravating the situation.

The Taiwan-based Falun Dafa did not have to say anything in that MPF parade. The visuals of them marching in the city's main streets were priceless advertising, thanks to PIDC. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).