Volume 5, Issue No. 9
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Tuesday, September 5, 2023
~ An editor of a local supermarket tabloid boasts of her periodical as "the only ethnic community newspaper in Canada" to deserve a space in the archival collection of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto campus in downtown. Librarians supposedly said the fortnightly "reflects the life and times of Filipino-Canadians" - a claim that's arguably inaccurate. Here's why.
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THE PHILIPPINE REPORTER GLOATS
Tall Tales About Filipinos Go to Archival Collection
Does TPR Reflect Life & Times in Toronto?
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"Evil is nourished and grows by concealment". - Virgil
TORONTO - The community's left-leaning supermarket tabloid, The Philippine Reporter (TPR), revels in what appears as an affirmation by a mainstream entity of a disputable claim that it's the chronicler of "the life and times of Filipinos in Canada".
The fortnightly has made it to the archival collection of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, a collaborating feat no other Filipino periodical has attained, bar none. The Library not only provides storage, but it affords access to future generations to look back through TPR's reporting.
That's where the significance of the collection lies, by allocating a window, essentially, to glimpse a bygone era. And that's also where the problem begins for those stepping back in time.
Would tomorrow's generation get an honest and accurate account of what had transpired in the Filipino community, say 20 or 40 years hence?
Content matters, and if this was the gauge for TPR's inclusion, then it's also an indirect rebuke of the state of Filipino community newspapering in the Greater Toronto Area.
Years prior to the coronavirus pandemic, a dozen tabloids competed for readership and advertising support in the GTA. That number has significantly dwindled to no more than five today.
But it's not the quantity that counted, rather it's the substance carried by each of the paper that found little relevance in everyday life.
Having a dozen tabloids did not mean multiple and exhaustive interpretation of the news, for practically all of them had the same theme - photos and self-serving press releases, extravagant parties, social climbing events, picnics, beauty pageants, fundraisings, etc.
On the other hand, TPR then and now stands out as the ostensible propaganda arm of leftist elements in the GTA, highlighting the usual condemnation of government by both underground and aboveground sympathizers.
The danger for future readers lurks here. Archiving TPR narrows and limits the broader view of the Filipino diaspora to leftist ideologues. That is because TPR is not a truthful, honest, and objective repository of the facts relating to the situation and circumstances of Filipinos.
I've just seen a copy of TPR's Aug. 11-24, 2023 issue where on page 11 appears an article by Mila Astorga-Garcia and an accompanying picture of a turnover of copies to the library's David Fernandez.
"The Philippine Reporter," writes the wife of the paper's editor Hermie Garcia, "up to now remains the only ethnic community newspaper in Canada with its print collection (except some missing issues) - from its first issue published in 1989 to the latest issue - archived and catalogued by the prestigious Library for public use".
I have no quarrel with the archival process, knowing fully well its importance to future generations. I do archive my work myself . . . the reams upon reams of articles written from way back in California in the mid-90s, and the contemporaneous photos and videos stored digitally and in the cloud.
But I do have a concern as a journalist reporting on and about the Filipino community in Canada, basically the same community which TPR also covers, supposedly.
"As Librarians describe it," according Mila Astorga-Garcia's account, the (TPR) "collection reflects the life and times of Filipino-Canadians and the issues, struggles and triumphs of Filipinos . . . in the Canadian diaspora".
I suppose I could raise that issue with the TFRB Library and the unidentified librarians who purportedly said it. Why? Because it's hardly accurate. Not quite accurate. Not really accurate.
The TFRB Library may not have been fully informed. Apparently, it relied on the say-so of a Philippine-born, California-raised academic, Roland Sintos Coloma, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, was associate professor at University of Toronto from 2008 to 2014.
TPR does not mirror the entire Filipino community. Its contents are tailored to a specific audience - the so-called discontented and marginalized few who for one reason or another want to effect a radical change in the democratic system of government in the Philippines.
In my view, TPR echoes the party line of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, the movement founded by the recently-deceased Jose Ma. Sison, which the Philippine government, the United States, and the European Union have classified as a "terrorist organization". (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbNvmygbKzY).
For example, take any five issues of TPR, review their contents, and the TFRB Library would perhaps be shocked to find the supposedly inexhaustible energy of Filipinos to fight a protracted war against the duly-established government in Manila.
There's no endless war in the Filipino community in Canada and in the Philippines. But reading TPR might, or perhaps would, lead one to believe it exists.
That's because TPR has been consistently portraying here that a socio-economic and political unrest, fueled by militant labor and student demonstrations, is the prevailing pastime in the homeland.
The class struggle which necessitates the overthrow of the Philippine government advocated by Sison, the CPP, and its armed wing, the New People's Army, is constantly reechoed on the pages of TPR.
In that context, TPR does not truthfully reflect the actual reality in the community. What it does is to give a platform for a subsector of the community to vent their advocacies and beliefs that correspond with Sison's.
Not being candid with its coverage is just one reason to distrust TPR. A few months ago, two of its writers - a staff member and an intern - were victimized by the lies and deceit of its editors, namely Hermie Garcia and wife Mila Astorga-Garcia.
Michelle Ramos, the journalist who resigned her staff position at TPR, had complained to the National Ethnic Press and Media Council (NEPMCC) and the Department of Canadian Heritage after her salary as a reporter for the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) had been delayed for months. (Background: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/funding/local-journalism-initiative.html).
NEPMCC administers LJI on behalf of Canadian Heritage which provides funding (meaning taxpayers' money), and chooses which media outlet to enroll, in this case the Garcias' The Philippine Reporter where Ms. Ramos was a staff writer until she quit. (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FT2kEZfls).
Her inquiries led to surprising discoveries: one, the entire budget for LJI reporters had been released to TPR in lump sum, so there's no reason for delays; two, NEPMCC denied the existence of a "grants guy" that Hermie Garcia had fabricated and blamed for delayed salary payments; three, Hermie Garcia had been caught lying and his deception exposed; fourth, the NEPMCC could be enabling Hermie Garcia's wrongdoings by maintaining its stoic silence on the issue. The Garcias are friends with NEPMCC president Thomas Saras. They are also officers of the organization.
One of the things that Ms. Ramos uncovered was the sudden disappearance of an intern from TPR's list of reporters. It turned out she also quit after suffering the same fate Ms. Ramos had experienced - the unreasonable withholding of her salary for months.
Canadian Heritage, the NEPMCC, and the Garcias have not commented on Ms. Ramos' well-documented allegations from the time they were published in June. (Full story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/lies-deceptions-by-philippine-reporter.html).
"Had they not lied and deceived us again and again, the long delays in paying our salaries would not have been a big issue," Ms. Ramos told this reporter earlier. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/reputation-of-ethnic-media-takes-hit-in.html).
Even as she was inclined to be more forgiving, her personal principles would not be compromised. She's resolute in finding out the truth, and when that truth surfaced, it was hard to believe, harder even to accept, as she had put her trust and confidence in the couple she considered friends and mentors.
Now, I ask the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library: If indeed TPR "reflects the life and times of Filipino-Canadians and the issues, struggles and triumphs of Filipinos . . . in the Canadian diaspora" how come the Garcias do not report what they did to Ms. Ramos and the intern? Where's the transparency and their supposed adherence to the truth? (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).
This is a very well-written article, in my opinion. I really like the manner you bring up this issue, how you highlight the problem with supporting, informative history and bring into question, the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library's decision to archive 'The Philippine Reporter' as a representation of mainstream Filipino community life, if that is their purpose.
ReplyDeleteIt takes someone discerning and alert to be sensitive and aware of this issue and the problem it can cause in the minds of future generations, whether they be Filipino or non-Filipino. In this case, that someone is you, an experienced and longtime investigative journalist who has continuously been active listening to and feeling the pulse of Filipino society in general.
That it matters enough for you to spend valuable time and effort to bring it up, speak eloquently about it in order to alert, inform and to question it is admirable and honourable! You are a proud and protective Filipino who is trying to prevent an unjustly narrow, bias and slanted view of the everyday Filipino, who is so much more than that! Bravo and kudos to you!!! - Susan Young, Toronto