Volume 5, Issue No. 19
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Tuesday, December 19, 2023
~ The year 2023 will soon fade into oblivion, bringing with it the tumultuous events of national and international import. On the community level though, issues that directly impact us remain unacted and uncommented while the parties to the problem are enabled arrogantly. Hopefully, shining a light, again, on misdeeds by people familiar to us would help thwart the commission of such wrongs.
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INJUSTICE BY INACTION
Why Did a Local Tabloid Hold Money for Writers' Salaries for Months When There's Lots of It on Their Hands?
Uncovering Hermie Garcia's Lies and Deceptions
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"The smallest evil, if neglected, will reach the greatest proportions". - Graffiti in Pompeii attributed to Pliny the Younger
TORONTO - For the months before and after a complaint against the editors of a Filipino tabloid was brought to the attention of the authorities, the top official of the ethnic press club continued to harp on the availability of federal money to fund the government's information outreach to underserved villages, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area where the bulk of community periodicals circulate.
For January, February, March, April, May, June, and July last year (2022), Thomas Saras, president and chief executive officer of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC), religiously reported on the status of the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI), the project it was implementing on behalf of the Department of Canadian Heritage (or Canadian Heritage).
"The LJI budget has been increased for the current year and for the next business year," minutes of his sessions with members posted in the NEPMCC website quoted him as saying again and again through those seven monthly meetings via Zoom.
"Current" appeared to indicate 2022, and "next business year" was a look into the near future, 2023 to be exact, that guaranteed funding.
Saras did not quantify the yearly allocation from Canadian Heritage, neither the percentage increase, nor the reason for the raise. What was clear was that there's money waiting to be tapped by media members of NEPMCC wanting and qualified to join the LJI.
The LJI, explained Saras, "supports the creation of original civic journalism that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada".
He continued: "Funding is available to eligible Canadian media organizations to hire an unemployed journalist or pay freelance journalists to produce civic journalism for underserved communities".
One of the LJI participants was the left-leaning The Philippine Reporter (TPR), the fortnightly tabloid owned and edited by Hermie Garcia and wife Mila A. Garcia who, in their younger years, were both incarcerated by the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. for alleged subversion through the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines.
In his Notebook column of January 10, 2014, Hermie Garcia wrote that he and wife, in his own words, "were arrested on trumped-up charges and thrown in jail. The charges, however, were summarily dismissed for lack of evidence. We we were released after a month and a half . . ."
His claim of spending "a month and a half" in prison contradicted TPR writer Jennilee Austria's September 2019 account which stated that "after a long campaign, Hermie was released, completing 6 1/2 years without conviction".
Who's telling the truth? Is it Hermie Garcia now proven to obfuscate the truth related to LJI? Or is it Jennilee Austria who presumably relied on her research about her bosses?
The multi-talented artist Michelle Chermaine Ramos (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FT2kEZfls) was one of the paper's staff writers, and in addition to her regular workload, she also covered events and wrote articles as LJI reporter starting in April 2022 up until she quit middle of this year upon discovering the lies and deception being foisted on her and on another writer, an intern, by Hermie Garcia.
Prior to that unearthing, she felt a compassion for what seemed to her were financial troubles affecting the tabloid, more or less because of the coronavirus pandemic. "I felt really bad for TPR assuming that they couldn't afford to pay me in full at that time," she said. "I thought nothing of it since I fully trusted Tito Hermie".
Her discovery of his prevarications was fortuitous. She merely wanted to know why her salary as LJI reporter was being delayed for months, for which Hermie Garcia laid blame on what he referred to as a "grant guy" in Canadian Heritage who purportedly released the money in trickles.
When asked, Saras' daughter, Maria Voutsinas, NEPMCC managing director and board member, told Ms. Ramos that the NEPMCC had already handed a lump sum payment to TPR for LJI salaries, and that the so-called "grant guy" withholding the money never existed.
These lies and deceptions became the basis of Ms. Ramos' complaint against TPR and the Garcia couple forwarded to NEPMCC and Canadian Heritage.
None of the entities that received the complaint responded to repeated requests for comment and/or clarification from this reporter.
Well, regardless of how they pretend to ignore the scathing complaint against the tabloid and its editors, the number of readers tracking their stories continues to rise.
As the writer of the articles, I'm impressed by how readers appear to welcome every bit of facts in every story, actually information they're just learning and never got from other periodicals.
From dozens to hundreds, readers chewed on the six articles** appearing on the Filipino Web Magazine.
**The articles are here:
The manipulation of information, the lies, and their obvious refusal to answer questions is uncharacteristic of media. Even more disconcerting is the silence of top officials of NEPMCC and Canadian Heritage, which reminds me of this quotation from Marcus Aurelius: "You can also commit injustice by doing nothing".
Just to give readers some background, I've attached here a copy of my email to Hermie Garcia and Mila Garcia, copy furnished NEPMCC, dated June 2, 2023:
Good morning Mr. Hermie Garcia and Mrs. Mila Garcia,
I hope you're both doing well.
The reason for this email is to get your reaction/comment on a complaint (of which I have a copy) alleging your mishandling of disbursed funds intended for reporters writing under the Local Journalism Initiative.
As we know, monies allocated by the Department of Canadian Heritage through LJI and administered by the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada for distribution to ethnic media participants are sourced from taxpayers like myself.
My concern at the moment is why you (as alleged) have repeatedly and deliberately engaged in deception and outright lies to at least two reporters who you (again as alleged) misled, withholding their rightful salaries, and blaming a non-existent person for undue delays that you concocted yourself.
Not only that. You seemed to have concealed information from Mr. Thomas Saras and his daughter, apparently out of fear of being taken off the LJI program.
I'm dumbfounded that you and your wife were even cited by Mr. Saras and given certificates of award when it's now become obvious that you failed to live up to NEPMCC's high journalism standards. Is this not an abomination?
By any language what you did (according to the allegations) was fraudulent. Did you try to scam your own reporters, trade your supposedly high journalism ethics, and your standing for some money? My understanding is your paper received anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000. Which one is it? Is it true that you kept some of the amount? I'd appreciate it if you would explain.
It is very important that you shed some light on these accusations that have already reached high officials in the Department of Canadian Heritage.
The stakes are high. As a Filipino journalist and former foreign correspondent with an international reputation to protect, I would not want to be lumped among the corrupt journalists that are dime a dozen in the homeland and here in Toronto.
The story I'm writing concerns you, your paper, the NEPMCC, Mr. Saras, and Canadian Heritage. Having said that, my story will be published after next week - with or without your comment - to give you, Canadian Heritage, and NEPMCC officials time to respond.
Thanks and regards,
Romy Marquez
Editor,
The Filipino Web Channel
Filipino Web Magazine
(Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).
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