Volume 5, Issue No. 4
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Thursday, July 27, 2023
~ The two organizations battling for control of the Filipino community's cash cow - that's Taste of Manila festival - appear to have settled their dispute, prompting an overzealous bakery owner to disparage the just-concluded FUN Philippines street fest which had guested the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. The mockery quickly backfired. A Facebook poster alluded to the baker as "gay" and the pre-cooked food he's selling as rotten.
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I.E.C., S.P.A.R.C. SIGN AGREEMENT
Dispute Over ToM Fixed, Organizers Say
Who Gets the Lion's Share of the Cash Cow?
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"What's real? What's not? That's what I do in my act, test how other people deal with reality". - Andy Kaufman
TORONTO - Short of being consigned to the slaughterhouse for good, the Filipino community's cash cow has received a new lease on life, yes, but not before it was cut up.
The metaphorical cash cow is, of course, the Taste of Manila (ToM) street festival - the bread and butter of a scheming family, the ATM of some organizers, the instant source of meaningless recognition, the ground zero of alleged corruption, and the root cause of double-dealing.
Two non-profit orgs - the Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community (SPARC) and International Entertainment Company (IEC) - manifested having worked out a deal apportioning responsibility in staging ToM in August. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/10/new-org-to-manage-taste-of-manila-in.html).
Sani Baluyot, SPARC's executive director, said on Wednesday, July 26, that his outfit had "finalized an agreement pertaining to marketing and booth sales, with SPARC as the primary organizer and driving force . . . "
"This will remove any confusion within the community and alleviate their concern about the 2023 Taste of Manila by working together," he said, adding that "this will be a collaboration between SPARC and IEC".
It wasn't clear if the "collaboration" involved dropping the lawsuit by IEC challenging SPARC, and the consequent counter-lawsuit by SPARC, over which org had the legal right to stage and manage ToM. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ap92btLM8).
What's clear is that IEC led by Cecille Araneta had capitulated to SPARC and, by acquiescing to the agreement, abandoned its position that it was the legitimate org to handle ToM based on a three-year contract with Rolly Mangante, the former driver of the Philippine consulate who has been representing himself as the founder of ToM.
Not only was IEC displaced from its perch it had occupied last year as ToM manager, it will now play second fiddle to SPARC. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/03/official-blames-tom-and-partners-for.html).
Araneta did not respond to questions sent to her by email. Previously, she had been vociferous in her rebuke of Mangante and his team who, she declared, were responsible for stealing and manipulating video footage from The Filipino Web Channel. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/05/fake-congen-triggers-dispute-over-taste.html)
There's no mention of how IEC, SPARC, and Mangante will split the fruits the cash cow will generate, or how such fruits would benefit the community.
Pleased by the latest development, Mhel Galeon, the owner of the now-diminished FV Foods, the bakery-cum-restaurant-cum-grocery based in Scarborough, posted a sarcastic remark on Facebook. He says, and I quote him verbatim: "The Appetizer is Done let's TASTE THE MAIN DISH".
Obviously, Galeon was mocking FUN Philippines street festival which had its run on Saturday and Sunday (July 22-23) in Little Manila, and had Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as its main guest. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CUEp_weNIA).
The allusion was that FUN Philippines was insignificant, and in cook's lingo, merely a snack to nibble at, whereas ToM is the more filling and substantive of the two street fests.
That statement did not sit well with Teresa Torralba, the brains and workhorse of earlier ToMs even before IEC and SPARC came into the picture, and currently FUN Philippines' overall festival director.
She stated: "Ang yayabang! Appetizer lang pala si PMJT sa kanila. Terrible people Lalo na yang si mhelchor."
But it wasn't so much Torralba's response that did carry the big punch. Another poster jabbed Galeon with a retort: "PANIS na ang main dish ni Ate Mel, kagaya ng mga tinda nya."
It's a double entendre. "Ate Mel" hints at Galeon being gay, as "ate" is the Tagalog word for older sister. "Panis" translates to stale or rotten food; this characterization could severely impact his restaurant which sells pre-cooked food.
With his caustic comment, Galeon kicked up a firestorm that could potentially upend his business considering the thousands of people who supported FUN Philippines.
Three years after it first launched in 2014, ToM has been reduced to a haven of social climbers, grifters, community achievers in pictures only, so-called leaders by association, con artists, and trolls whose reach exceeds their grasp.
This latest rendition of ToM, is it not the same dog with a different collar? (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).
Hi Sir Romy i read with interest your subject of TOM , IEC etc; Why do Filipinos in their adopted country have so much conflict of interest. I suggest that a meaningful and penetrating dialogue.among the parties to resolve their differences to put and end to their conflict. Let all their works be done with love. For whatever worth. - Sir Dante P. Mercado
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