Volume 4, Issue No. 31
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Wednesday, December 14, 2022
~ Contradicting claims put the holding next year of what was once the largest Filipino street festival in North America in peril. Both sides to the conflict are now preparing to litigate the case that stems from two contractual agreements entered into by the people behind the Taste of Manila fest being planned for August 2023.
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THE $1.5-MILLION QUESTION
Rival Orgs Tangle Over Taste of Manila
One Group Seeks An Injunction
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"Litigation was war. A war that usually inflicted heavy casualties on both sides".
- Kenneth Eade
TORONTO - The not-for-profit (NFP) organization seeking a halt to next year's Taste of Manila (ToM) festival had been officially dumped and a competing NFP which surfaced only in September signed up in its place, an official has claimed.
Two groups - International Entertainment Company (IEC) and the Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community (SPARC) - are now formally on a war footing as each tries to diminish the other over who has the sole and legal right to hold ToM. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aOgDtLd6ec).
At the center of the brewing controversy is the spurious founder of ToM, Rolly Mangante, alias "kabise", a former driver at the Philippine Consulate who had stolen the idea of ToM from diplomatic officials who were then posted in Toronto and registered it as his own.
One of those officials, Ambassador Pedro Chan, consul general in Toronto at that time, passed away in July. It was in his meeting with top Toronto police officials where Mangante sat in without official authority. A photo of the gathering made it look like he was among the participants.
(Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/08/no-way-to-treat-diplomat-like-what.html).
Mangante has a number of alleged NFPs under his name or carried the tagline Taste of Manila. The latest that popped up recently is the Taste of Manila Production, which seems different from Taste of Manila Inc. His wife, Nieves, and daughters Jacqueline and Roloves are his directors. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXqjO8AWUJ4).
Reached for comment on a petition for injunction filed by IEC against SPARC, Danilo Baluyot, executive director of SPARC, said his group was contracted to mount ToM in August as IEC's contract has allegedly lapsed.
"SPARC had been informed that the contract between TOM and IEC had been rescinded before we got into contract with Mr. Mangante," he explained in response to a question by this reporter.
He declined to identify the contracting party on the part of ToM. He also did not respond to a request for a copy of the document that allegedly says the IEC contract had been scrapped for whatever reason.
The revocation of that contract, Baluyot emphasized, took place "even before we started discussing the possibilities of collaborating with TOM 2023".
On the other hand, IEC believed its contract with ToM continues to exist and remains valid up to 2024, the third year of its three-year agreement to manage ToM. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ap92btLM8).
In support of that contention, IEC has asked the Superior Court of Justice to stop SPARC from conducting the street festival in August 2023.
On Monday, Dec. 12, IEC issued a press statement saying: "The injunction seeks to stop the defendant from continually breaching the contract of IEC and to force the defendants to honour its obligations. IEC is also seeking a total of $1.5-Million for breach of contract and punitive and damages" (sic).
For his part, Baluyot stated: "None of the claims or allegations in the Statement of Claim we received have been proven and no injunctions have been granted against any party concerned".
A troll within SPARC hiding under the pseudonym Marites Tolits has propagandized Baluyot's private response to this reporter's queries and posted it on Facebook like it was now the official SPARC stand on some issues.
"Marites Tolits," according to informed sources familiar with her tactics, is actually Rose Ami, aka Rosemarie Ami-Seaborn, the garrulous real estate agent who hangs out in Little Manila and is currently a member of SPARC.
Rose Ami is regarded by many in the Filipino community as a loudspeaker, a human megaphone that, once switched on, rattles off gibberish bordering on rumors. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/11/our-troll-neighbors-marites-tolits-and.html).
IEC lawyer Jarvis Yap Ortega, meanwhile, said evidence to back up their claim against SPARC and ToM will "be presented to the court and not in press releases".
"We will present evidence in Court and not try this case in the press," he states in reply to a question.
According to him, "the statement of claim had included all parties as defendants and there is no other defendants as of now. If subsequent evidence discloses other defendants, then we will accordingly amend our claim".
He, however, did not identify "all parties as defendants". (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).
Malaki siguro ang pera diyan kaya sila nag-aaway. Sino sa kanila ang kurakot?
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