Real-Life Lessons from a Fictional Detective

Volume 4, Issue No. 49

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Romar Media Canada's 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 Monday, February 27, 2023 

~ The mockery thrown my way as I follow through investigative journalism in Toronto, and previously in San Diego, California, has hardly abated despite the threats, intimidation, and a number of defamation lawsuits triggered by such an undertaking. Ironically, the most vociferous are the pretenders who lack the bona fides of a journalist. Philip Marlowe, a fictional sleuth who rose to fame years ago, thanks to his creator, Raymond Chandler, has come to life in a movie of the same name, his role essayed by actor Liam Nesson. There are lessons in basic journalism to be had in this flick. 

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RAYMOND CHANDLER'S PHILIP MARLOWE

A Model for Investigative Journalism

Actor Breathes Life Into Marlowe the Sleuth

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"At the core of investigative journalism is exactly the same thing that drives a page-turning thriller: telling a great story."  - Hank Phillippi Ryan

TORONTO - Actor Liam Neeson was being interviewed live last week on ABC's The View (video at: https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/the-view) about his latest movie, Marlowe, that's now showing in some theatres in the US and the Greater Toronto Area.

The show caught my attention while browsing YouTube, and clicked on it, not because of the Irish-British-American movie star, a favorite in Schindler's List, but for the role he plays as Philip Marlowe, from where the flick gets its title.

Marlowe, called the "quintessential American detective," is a creation by author Raymond Chandler who was born in 1888 in Chicago, Illinois, and died in 1959 in the affluent community of La Jolla, California. He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego.

The fictional Marlowe's career spanned 25 years from 1935 to 1960. (More about him at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Marlowe).

I had taken an interest in his detective work after his name was mentioned in an article about me by Michael Gregory Stephens, Ph.D., the prolific American author who has published 21 books, including the memoir Where the Sky Ends (Hazelden) and the reissue of his novel The Brooklyn Book of the Dead (New Island Books in Dublin, Ireland).

Stephens wrote a lengthy feature about my pursuit as an investigative journalist in San Diego, California, which the mainstream San Diego Reader published as its cover story in the June 14, 2001 issue. (The full story at: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2001/jun/14/cover-sinister-hero/?page=1&).

To have an idea of the scope of my news coverage, he rode shotgun with me for two days in my old Nissan Sentra, traversing known Filipino hangouts in San Diego and National City, and having meals in Filipino restaurants, snack bars, and visiting friends in parks, even in a barbershop where I had a haircut.

In the car and out, he conducted the freewheeling interview, occasionally taking notes for the all-important quotes while his tape recorder ran the whole time we journeyed from one place to the next. His deportment was a giveaway to the story he was going to write - far-reaching, detailed, accurate, and personal.

I didn't know a bit about Marlowe at that time but when Stephens used Marlowe as the punchline of his article, thus effectively comparing his work as a private detective with mine as a journalist, I felt even more emboldened to continue investigative reporting. It was a big boost personally and professionally.

Small wonder that when the news magazine came out, the acrimonious sector of the Filipino community was shocked to find my news coverage had attracted San Diego's largest weekly publication, which devoted pages upon pages to Stephen's account of my job.

It was more than a pat on the back; it is a valuable recognition, a validation, of the pioneering work I had embarked upon as soon as I committed my newspaper, the Diario Veritas, to the pursuit of stories about corruption and wrongdoing in the community.

 Stephens wrote, and I quote the penultimate paragraphs from the Reader:

“I started my newspaper,” Romeo says, “because I needed to expose the lack of principled leadership in our community organizations. I needed to let people know what tricks were being played right before their eyes. I needed everybody to be informed that those who claimed to be exalted leaders were not leaders but opportunists.”

Then the tightness leaves Romeo Marquez’s face.

“On the other hand, beauty pageants,” he says, “next to being the biggest cottage industry hereabouts, are also our favorite pastime. Beauty contests make us forget about day-to-day problems. They are a diversion from the hard reality of living in America at the great expense of our women, young and old.”

With that, he gets into his 1986 Nissan Sentra, and National City’s Philip Marlowe drives away. n

That was the first and only time, I was associated with Marlowe. (National City is a southeastern suburb of the City of San Diego and is one of the 18 cities in San Diego County. In the 2000 census, Filipinos comprised 19 percent of the population, second only to Mexicans at 53 percent).

The week the Reader circulated, a close friend gifted me with a book - the 400-page Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe - which is one of my treasured possessions in my small library.

One of these days when the weather permits, I'd like to see Liam Neeson's Marlowe on the big screen and take some cue on how he has evolved into the "quintessential American detective". 

Whatever secret tricks Marlowe has up his sleeve, it would be useful in Toronto's Filipino community where scammers, wrongdoers, and impostors proliferate. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).

Is Interest in Taste of Manila Festival On the Wane?

Volume 4, Issue No. 48

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Romar Media Canada's 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 Monday, February 20, 2023 

~ This year portends to be a season of doom and gloom for the once-go-to festival of choice in the Greater Toronto Area. It's all quiet on the western front, it seems, and I am not referring to the multi-award nominated German movie of the same title. I mean the Taste of Manila (ToM) street festival in the hub unofficially called Little Manila. During a visit last week, there's hardly a sign of any festival coming through this summer. And to make matters worse, ToM's biggest supporter in local government, 68-year-old Mayor John Tory, has resigned his elective post over an extramarital affair with a woman staffer nearly twice his junior. 

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IT'S ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Bleak Prospect for Taste of Manila Festival

Top Official Said to Be in Hiding

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for."  - Epicurus 

TORONTO - By this time in years past when Spring approaches and Summer beckons, most Filipino establishments in Little Manila would be bedecked with all kinds of posters and flyers announcing upcoming Filipino festivals.

Not so this year, it seems. The atmosphere in that part of town appears bleak save for the sight of a few visitors and families exiting in and out of the restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and remittance centers that dot the junction of Bathurst St. and Wilson Ave. in North York.

The fickle Winter weather must have something to do with it - once sunny but chilly in sub-zero temperatures, sometimes rainy with a sprinkling of snow flurries, and many times with bountiful snow that makes walking and driving difficult.

In recent times, no rain or snow could stop organizers from disclosing their respective festivals, concerts, or what have you, either with their presence or with banners, leaflets, and the like. The preferred mode now seems to be impersonal websites and social media outlets.

From the comfort of my home office, I ventured out, cameras in tow, bundled in layers upon layers of clothing that would withstand the cold and snow, and determined to interview people in Little Manila about anything.

Sure enough the information - raw, unverified, gossipy, hearsay, fantastical - came in trickles from individuals who work, live, and hang out in the area. They are my eyes and ears, my trusted informants whose friendship I've cultivated in years as a journalist.

Some tidbits of information may not be reliable at the outset, but who cares? They are intel subject to meticulous processing through verification, cross-checking, and cross-referencing with people who knew, and are in positions to know.

One such info is the widespread talk in Little Manila that the ubiquitous self-proclaimed founder of the Taste of Manila (ToM) festival, Rolly Mangante alias kabise, is nowhere in sight since late last year. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ap92btLM8).

"Nagtatago na siya. Matagal na," says one informant speaking in Tagalog to mean Mangante is in hiding a long time ago. There may be a plausible reason for this claim. In fact, he himself has been telling people about his alleged health problem. That could mean he has limited his movement within the confines of his home.

(Neither of the allegations has been independently confirmed but the always-unresponsive Mangante can react to this one way or another).

For some people familiar with his ways, however, the sick claim is merely a "press release" to gain sympathy for his plight, especially now that he's being held legally liable for some alleged wrongdoing. "It's the usual pa-awa chika for effect," says one source.

To my informant's knowledge, Mangante, a former driver at the Philippine Consulate who had walked off with the idea of a ToM festival and claimed it as his, had bailed out of a lawsuit filed by organizers of the 2022 ToM, the purported not-for-profit International Entertainment Company (IEC).

IEC partners Cecille Araneta (video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdTnX700_a8) and Mon Datol aka Mondee have sued Mangante and his new collaborators in SPARC (Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community) led by Danilo "Sani" Baluyot and realtor Rose Ami aka Rosemarie Ami-Seaborn, the self-identified online gossipy troll behind the pseudonym Marites Tolits.

In its lawsuit, IEC alleged that Mangante breached their three-year contract to undertake ToM by signing in SPARC as his new partner in holding the festival for the next three years beginning in August 2023. 

The IEC apparently suffered a huge financial drain in staging the 2022 ToM and is hoping to recoup some of its losses and pay its debts through the lawsuit. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/12/volume-4-issue-no.html).

Before the suit, Araneta, Datol, Mangante, and other role players like Dannasol Luna, Philip Beloso, and Pete Torralba (no relation to the popular Torralba couple Ramon and Teresa) were goody-goody friends who had pirated film footage from published videos of The Filipino Web Channel. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ).

Datol even defended the steal during a press conference launching IEC's ToM fest in April 2022. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd02DO503DU&t=45s). IEC and its officers refused to apologize for the infraction, neither would it compensate nor remove the stolen film clips from their promotional video.

If there's someone more familiar with poaching like what IEC did, it is IEC's lawyer, Atty. Jarvis Yap Ortega of the Ortega Law Office, who knew it is wrong and legally actionable.

I caught Ortega's Pahayagan tabloid plagiarizing my story of an event at Bathurst-Wilson Parkette and told him about it. Whereupon he issued a hollow apology for the deed. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I0bHcFMP_o).

Here is part of my story published online and in Balita (note: already removed from its website for some reason) on September 21, 2016:

TORONTO - A Filipino lawyer who stands as editor-in-chief of a local tabloid has apologized for plagiarizing parts of a commentary this reporter had written last week online and on print.

"We will issue an apology in our newspaper," Jarvis Ortega said in an email on Tuesday on behalf of Pahayagan, the paper that lifted the story and published it without attribution. The same article is printed in the current issue of Balita, Toronto's largest Filipino newspaper.

In its September issue out this week, Pahayagan publicized a story about the opening of Mabuhay Garden in the Filipino community's Little Manila and mistaking it for the inaugural of the long-standing Bathurst-Wilson Parkette. The language, tone, substance and structure of the story were the same as this reporter's article.

"Our sincere apology for using you as a source in our write up about the Garden without your permission and adding up our own notes and observation," Ortega stated.

His emailed apology came within hours of publication of the reporting on his paper's plagiarism, which this reporter found out after reading its coverage of the same event that took place on Sunday, Sept. 11.

Ortega explained, in his own words: "When we were doing our write, we went online and try to read about other reports on their comments and observation.  We found your article as factual as it was since we were there also". 

.

"Our apologies also for the mistakes in our grammar due to time constraint.  We will do better next time," he promised. 

So. stealing video footage and plagiarizing a story are practically one and the same. Isn't this practice like shit? (pardon the French). There's IEC and its lawyer to look at for example. Now I leave it to my readers to decide what they have in common. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).

Libel Suit Unsettles Tabloid Publisher

Volume 4, Issue No. 47

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 Thursday, February 16, 2023 

~ Now confronted with a new libel suit, the two-time loser, twice-fined, and once-jailed publisher of Balita tabloid has vowed to exact revenge on people she considers hostile to her. "I can have a heart of stone," she blares. It isn't clear if she was just letting off steam, or if she lost control of her bearings as to sound like a vindictive woman, contrary to what she has consistently portrayed herself as deeply religious.  

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NOT CONTENT WITH THREATS, INSULTS, INTIMIDATION

Balita Publisher Now Vows Revenge

Tess Cusipag Says She Has 'Heart of Stone'

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Facts are threatening to those invested in fraud." - DaShanne Stokes 

TORONTO - Infantile rants are quite common among juveniles wanting to get even with their peers, or just seeking revenge for a perceived slight.

But when such rants come from a supposedly respected member of the community - and a septuagenarian at that - the hapless recipient raises questions about the sanity of the nitpicker.

That was the situation I found myself in recently. Reporting just got riskier by the number of insults, intimidation, and threats one gets every now and then.

I hate to be drawn into such childish bickering as what happened after I reported on the libel lawsuit filed against Balita tabloid and its publisher/editor Teresita "Tess" Cusipag by businesswoman Liwayway Miranda aka Lily Miranda Hammer.

I will refer to them casually in this story as Tess and Lily, the nicknames they're more popularly known. I never knew them to be friends perhaps because of generational differences; the former is a boomer (born 1946-1964) and the latter is generation X (born mid-to-late 60s to early 1980s).

The trigger for Tess' latest broadside was my January 25 exclusive story about her reaction to the serving of a notice of libel action at her home office in Markham, Ontario on Jan. 20, 2023. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/01/libel-suit-readied-vs-balita-and-its.html).

Somehow I got used to her unreasonable outbursts and senseless rhetoric, dismissing them as vents needing release. Unfortunately, the whole hot air almost always lands on my lap.

Over the years, my reporting would engender adverse reactions from her, especially if it impacts Balita and her friends who incessantly pander to her. Surely, the blame would be laid on me.

On the same day (January 26) I posted my article on my blog, she emailed friends expressing her disappointment in a telegraphic message, thus (and I quote verbatim, italics mine): 

"Using his poisonous pen all the time

"why dont he reply and reason out using his brain and not his pen, which he thinks can make him superior when he has not proven anything else..

"For me he is a big COWARD".

And she calls herself editor. My gosh, I can't imagine how real editors would react to this.

Two weeks later when I was informed that Lily's lawyers had filed a libel suit at the Superior Court of Justice, Tess insinuated that I had turned a blind eye, in her own words, "with the miseries of others for a small amount of money", and that it was the equivalent of what she calls "pabente bente".

"Pabente bente" or 20/20 (for $20 bill) is a jab at the under-the-table deal of a deceased media practitioner in Toronto to ask for money in exchange for publicizing press releases in friendly newspapers extolling the activities of whoever was his subject. 

"You can earn respect if you look at the whole picture not just for pabente bente," Tess tells her friends. She meant I should take a look at the claim of a Migrante official, her friend, whose daughter and some other workers were allegedly duped by Lily's company. 

The claim was clearly propaganda. I personally believe it was preposterous to pay any attention, particularly because all the cases against Lily have been dismissed for lack of evidence.

"Yo (sic) should have some principle. Very disappointing," she adds. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QprwiFQiLjs).

Tess' "pabente bente" is deeply insulting. And so was her other assertion that I took delight in receiving proffered Christmas gifts from Balita on the prodding of her late husband Ruben Cusipag.

"Think of all the help Ruben and I have given you, Ruben said give him the new TV, I did, give him a new camera, dress him up, I did. just to help you out," she says. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/03/have-pen-and-notebook-will-travel.html).

Those were exaggerations, of course, none of which is true. The camera she claims to have given was actually a poor replacement for my own high-end camera that fell into ruin after I used it extensively in my coverage of her social-climbing activities like the Miss Manila pageant and the Fiesta Filipina events. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAj4Fza_cQc).

I am not wealthy nor have I pretended to be one, but I'm no homeless mendicant either, to deserve their fucking charity. However, it's quite good to know she could be rational in not claiming that the brief and boxing shorts I'm wearing were not from their almsgiving.

I had to remind her that compared to the pittance I received working for seven years at Balita, I earned a generous amount as a foreign correspondent for two international news agencies for nearly 20 years before I settled in North America in the mid-90s. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE).

Balita is nowhere near my previous employers. To be frank, Balita is a booger (kulangot in Tagalog) by any measure. It's a rag sheet, a fish wrapper, and a head cover in rainy weather. 

When I was there with the pompous but empty title of associate editor, I tried to uplift it to a higher intellectual level. I was tired of her gossip and the senseless chitchat that gets published on many of its pages.

My explanations were not sufficient to convince Tess that her advocacy so-called for Migrante and elite scammers is wicked. She threatens to do many things, saying "I can also have a heart of stone and I will prove it".

" . . . so get ready. my revenge will come," she vows. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).

Valentine's Day Feature: Love Takes Flight

Volume 4, Issue No. 46

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, February 14, 2023 

~ Toronto's multidisciplinary artist Michelle Chermaine Ramos encapsulates the meaning of romantic love in her painting Love Takes Flight - a timely and fitting homage to Valentine's Day today. The community's array of music artists complements the observance with their rendition of popular hits, from Mon Torralba's Pers Lab to Chiqui Pineda's "Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin". What a day this is for lovers! Happy Valentine's Day! 

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PAINTING BY MICHELLE CHERMAINE RAMOS

On This Day, Let "Love Takes Flight"

It Sums Up An Individual's Love and Desire

 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Happiness is being immeasurably in love with someone one adores and respects. And finding that love's fruition".  - from Prerogative, the book, by Romy Marquez 

TORONTO - For days I scrambled in search of something - a song, a poem, an essay, a painting - that will detach me even for a moment from the absurdity of community politics. It's Valentine's Day, after all, the once-a-year event that celebrates everything about love and lovers.

I had looked at my video files and found two items; one from Paris (the love lock bridge across the River Seine. Video at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEkNHg7o76k), and another from England (the hometown of William Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon. Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hygSnhQH5PQ).

I have a generous collection of love poems, about 40 books, in my small library from Shakespeare to Emily Dickinson to Robert Frost to Maya Angelou to Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barret Browning to Edgar Allan Poe, and many others.

The "sentimental story about the enduring power of true love" that occupies a special place in my heart is the novel Love in the Time of Cholera by Colombian writer and Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's a nice read for Valentine's Day.

My song preference is quite unfashionable at this time of hip-hop music, understandably so because many of them were born during tempestuous times in the homeland, and the need for music to calm down frayed nerves, thus the Original Pilipino Music (OPM).

OPM and the artists that propagated Philippine sounds through eloquent lyrics are a standout up to this day. My perfect example is Ramon Torralba's Pers Lab - a paean any adolescent, mature, or senior, male or female can relate to. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6b8B2MvhTg).

Testament to its universal currency is the number - still growing nearly 50 years after it aired in 1975 - of interpretations by different artists, all hewing to the same language of ardent affection and yearning vocalized in simple verses by Torralba.

After exhausting the possibilities, the inspiration for this essay finally settled on a painting by our very own multidisciplinary artist Michelle Chermaine Ramos, who is also a designer, illustrator, journalist, and poet.

I have repeatedly glanced at her Love Takes Flight, the 24" x 36" acrylic on canvas circa 2009, without realizing the deep meaning it conveys to a lay person like me who's not schooled in the visual arts. 

(Full story at: https://www.michellechermaine.com/SymbolicFantasy/lovetakesflight.html).

But I do appreciate the art, and in my non-expert judgment, that painting is impressive, especially considering that Michelle, as she explained, is a self-taught artist. I find it an outstanding model for Valentine's Day.

For one, it captures the raw essence of romantic love; a man and a woman, unadorned and clearly possessed by each other, almost ready to let themselves be consumed by their burning passion.

Love is fire; it is stoked every now and then by an equally intense fire. And for that fire to be extinguished, albeit temporarily, rests on the ability of the lovers to let the flames of love enwrap them in a tight embrace.

Michelle's characterization of them as "soulmates" fits well into the combustion of two people loving and lusting for that touch that will satiate their human instinct.

"Long after youth’s fires of passion have faded," Michelle writes, "there needs to be mutual trust, respect, appreciation, affection and understanding on the emotional, intellectual and spiritual levels for love to last through life’s ups and downs". 

This is exactly why Love Takes Flight is relevant to our times. It looks to the future, beyond the hurts of the past and the disappointments of the present. 

" . . . to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until parted by death" - that marriage vow is simplified in Rey Valera's "Kahit Maputi na Ang Buhok Ko". (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU0WYhKpTfs).

"When one feels such a bond with their partner and understood and accepted on all levels," says Michelle, "only then can the relationship feel balanced, fulfilling and well-rounded." 

Truly, this aspect of the soulmate is more visceral in Love Takes Flight than physical. But just the same, the intrinsic love between the two individuals is obvious if not felt.

I find a few Tagalog songs that echo what Love Takes Flight is all about. One of them is Martin Nievera's "Ikaw" (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQSnbPFh0Ag). Another is Chiqui Pineda's "Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin" (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw2GfR4_XoU). 

Michelle's painting could be said to be the sum total of all these poems, songs, essays, ala OPM. Indeed on this Valentine's Day, let Love Takes Flight. Happy Valentine's Day to all!(Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).

Balita Tabloid, Editor in New Libel Suit

Volume 4, Issue No. 45

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 Friday, February 10, 2023 

~ The years have not deterred these two women from lunging at each other's throats. This week, business executive Liwayway Miranda has sought to stop Balita publisher Teresita "Tess" Cusipag and punish her for allegedly defaming her in print and social media by filing a libel suit in the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario. A "statement of claim" was served on Ms. Cusipag and received by her son in the paper's home office in Markham, Ontario.  

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LIWAYWAY MIRANDA v. TERESITA CUSIPAG

New Libel Suit Filed Against Balita

They've Been at Each Other's Throats Since 2020 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"No one assails me with impunity".  - Edgar Allan Poe 

TORONTO - A simmering dispute dating back to 2020 between two women has culminated this week with the filing of a libel suit against a community tabloid and its publisher/editor.

Business executive Liwayway Miranda aka Lily Miranda Hammer brought legal action against Teresita "Tess" Cusipag and Balita, the publication she owns, publishes, and edits, and is circulated in the Greater Toronto Area.

Lawyers for Ms. Miranda said a "statement of claim" has been served electronically and on Ms. Cusipag at her home office in Markham, Ontario on Wednesday, February 8, and received personally by her son Edward de Juan.

The lawyers said statements made by Ms. Cusipag and published in February 2020 and lately in December 2022, "constitute defamation of the plaintiff (Ms. Miranda) and are in the nature of libel and slander, damaging the plaintiff’s reputation."

In the "initial defamatory publications", the lawyers explained, "Balita and Ms. Cusipag published articles and public statements, falsely accusing—expressly and by implication—Ms. Miranda of fraud, scams, swindling, racketeering, 'faked investing', being a 'Scammer', credit card theft, forgery, blackmail, threats, providing licensed services without license, etc".

On December 11, 2019, which was months before Ms. Cusipag's February 2020 outburst, the Superior Court of Justice threw out charges of human trafficking and misrepresentation brought by Crown prosecutors against Ms. Miranda for lack of evidence. (Video and full story at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QprwiFQiLjs).

That basically exonerated Ms. Miranda from any wrongdoing, a decision that was quite an embarrassing development seen as a slap on the face of prosecutors who relied mainly on what appeared to be false accusations of six workers who had escaped from their work contracts. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2019/12/cabal-of-mushroom-pickers-exposed-in.html).

Despite the court's dismissal of the charges which was widely reported in both mainstream and local media outlets, Ms. Cusipag persisted in her attacks on Ms. Miranda. 

"The defendants (Ms. Cusipag and Balita) nevertheless continued maintaining the Initial Defamatory Publications even after being served with a notice of an intended action for libel" in August 2020, the lawyers said. 

The latest was in the December 16-31, 2022 issue of Balita where she wrote that Ms. Hammer is a "notorious alleged scammer who up to this time is still hunted by victims to serve court documents".

Ms. Cusipag also implicated a paralegal named Jun Saludares who she called "soon to be a practicing lawyer" and quoted him as purportedly saying that Ms. Hammer is "the summa cum laude of scammers in Toronto". (Background story of Saludares at: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlst/doc/2019/2019onlsth12/2019onlsth12.html).

Calling Saludares a "soon to be a practicing lawyer" indisputably showed the period when the article was written. In fact the moment I saw it online, I knew it was the same old, recycled piece that bordered on gossip.

"Ms. Cusipag further repeated and circulated the Initial Defamatory Publications through direct emails and messages to community members and through her personal social media presence and others equally affiliated with Balita," the lawyers explained. 

Late last month, Ms. Cusipag said she would fight the lawsuit and hire "not just lawyers anymore" but "good ones instead" ostensibly alluding to her loss in two defamation lawsuits that cost her and Balita nearly one million dollars in damages. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/01/good-lawyering-won-libel-cases.html).

(Disclosure: this reporter was also a defendant in the two cases).

According to Ms. Miranda's lawyers, "Ms. Cusipag and Balita have shown a consistent practice of publishing false allegations of fraud against reputable individuals, where the court found Ms. Cusipag was “on a malicious quest to destroy [those parties’] reputation”. 

"In those actions," the lawyers said, "the court repeatedly found the defendants liable for defamation and slander. The court awarded damages, punitive damages, and substantial indemnity costs against the defendants for similar conduct". (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/01/).

Superior Court Justice Frederick L. Myers had found Ms. Cusipag guilty of criminal contempt and sentenced her to imprisonment of 21 days in a women's facility. She served 13 days and was released. (Video of Justice Myers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbXjhWyG9aE

Ms. Miranda is asking the Superior Court of Justice to award her $150,000.00 for general damages; $100,000.00 for punitive, exemplary and aggravated damages;  interlocutory and permanent injunctions; and the costs of the proceeding on a substantial indemnity basis, plus applicable taxes.

"The conduct of the defendants as aforesaid has been malicious, abusive, egregious, reprehensible and was carried out in a flagrant disregard for Ms. Miranda’s business and personal reputation. Such conduct warrants the imposition of punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages, or any of them, against the defendants," the lawyers said. 

Ms. Miranda's libel suit is the fifth to be filed against Ms. Cusipag and Balita since 2016. Of the four where this reporter was also a defendant, she lost in two. The two other cases were not pursued for lack of interest and the death of the complainant.

"The high-handed way that the defendants conducted their affairs warrants the condemnation of this court. The defendants, including their agents, had complete knowledge of the falsity of the Defamatory Publications and the harm it caused to Ms. Miranda," the lawyers added. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).