Volume 4, Issue No. 36
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Tuesday, January 10, 2023
~ Let's start afresh. The New Year should mean new beginnings. And the way to move on is to get rid of what pains us and paints us bad. If that meant purging ourselves of the troublesome festival called Taste of Manila (ToM), so be it. The infighting, the accusations, the fakery, the stealing, the alleged scams - let's cleanse them out of our consciousness. Prior to ToM, there was Filipino Town of FilTown in what's now referred to as Little Manila. There were idealists and real community leaders in Filipino Town. Let's get them back for the sake of our community.
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BACK TO FILIPINO TOWN
We Should Get Rid of Taste of Manila
Instead of Watching the Spectacle of a Fight
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"Everywhere the same madness: people fighting and crying out for their own destruction". - Marty Rubin
TORONTO - The ongoing legal skirmish for the right to hold the Taste of Manila (ToM) festival in August should give us pause and reflect on its viability as an authentic representation of the Filipino community.
The wranglings may already be suggestive of the disposition of the people who customarily embark on a practice many Filipinos are familiar with - the so-called crab mentality.
Wikipedia defines it perfectly, thus: "Crab mentality, also known as crab theory, crabs in a bucket mentality, or the crab-bucket effect, is a way of thinking best described by the phrase 'if I can't have it, neither can you'. The metaphor is derived from anecdotal claims about the behavior of crabs when they are trapped in a bucket".
At the core of the dispute is the self-promoted founder of ToM, Rolly Mangante, alias "kabise," the former driver of the Philippine Consulate, who had contracted an inexperienced not-for-profit (NFP) org called SPARC (Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community), to conduct this year's festival.
His conduct appears violative of an earlier agreement, this time with IEC (International Entertainment Company), also a newbie org, which has an existing three-year contract, court filings by its officials Cecille Araneta and Ramon Datol claimed.
IEC has asked the Superior Court to stop Mangante and SPARC led by Danilo "Sani" Baluyot from proceeding with the planned ToM 2023. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-avarice-of-festival-organizers.html).
A SPARC functionary who goes by the pseudonym Marites Tolits has announced that: "The matter is in our lawyer's hands. We refute all allegations against SPARC. None of the claims or allegations in the Statement of Claim have been proven in court and no injunctions have been granted against any party concerned".
Mangante's change of heart was dictated by a slightly higher offer from SPARC to the tune of $100,000 versus IEC's $85,000 paid directly to him to stage the festival, according to sources familiar with the matter. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ap92btLM8).
Repeated attempts to get Mangante to clarify the issues have been for naught.
However, in an "official public statement" recently posted on Facebook, it states that, and I quote verbatim, " "Taste of Manila Productions ( Who Operates as "The Taste of Manila") and founder, Mr. Rolando Mangante, are aware of the recent allegations brought forth by International Entertainment Company. All allegations are denied, and we will vigorously defend this matter"."
Shall we all bear witness to this unfolding drama over a petty sum coveted by an insatiable lust for money? Shall we continue to exhibit Filipinos' crab mentality?
One alternative for the Filipino community is to drop ToM altogether. What has it accomplished other than lining up some people's pockets? Forget it as a feast. Consign it to oblivion. Let the protagonists fight among themselves. Let them bleed dry. By kicking it off our collective consciousness, we start fresh.
Now that brings me to the time prior to ToM. In December 2013, a good eight months before ToM came into existence, a group of Filipino entrepreneurs staked a claim to a North York area from the junction of Bathurst St. and Wilson Ave. and named it Filipino Town or FilTown. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrrv4kSqJDE).
There was no Little Manila yet. This hub evolved only from ToM's first staging in August 2014 when Philippine Ambassador Leslie B. Gatan christened, though informally, the Bathurst-Wilson area as Little Manila. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcZa99xeGW0).
Since then, Little Manila has morphed into some kind of Potemkin village and a battleground for egos and unfulfilled aspirations, an arena for conflicting personal interests, and an outlet for fraudsters and pseudo-role players.
Far from its stated mission to serve the community, ToM has developed into a showcase for hideous scammers and shameless tricksters, and name-droppers.
With all the legal and financial troubles looming ahead, the time has come to put an end to the pain and sorrow that ToM and its handlers have brought to the community.
Maybe the idealists behind Filipino Town or FilTown should reassemble starting this year, or the next, for us to regain our dignity as a people. If ToM has displayed the worst in us, maybe FilTown or its organizers like Deo Moreno could redeem the pride we're fast losing. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).
Agree ako diyan, sir. Timbugin na yang Taste of Manila, maraming kurakot at pa-epal na mga opisyales, unang-una si kabise.
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