Volume 6, Issue No. 11
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Monday, September 23, 2024
~ The whole shebang looks like the organizers are pulling the wool over our eyes with one of their awards going to a schemer who steals video footage and exults being mistaken for a ranking diplomat. It's an insult, a degradation of Filipino values to pass the award recipient as a "role model for compassion, dedication and service." Just the same, the former driver popularly known as "kabise" is enabled in opulent ceremonies weeks ago in the City of Niagara Falls.
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GOLDEN BALANGAY FOUNDATION
Bestows Community Service Award to 'Kabise'
Ostensibly for Taste of Manila Festival, No Kidding
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
TORONTO - More than a dozen individuals the non-profit Golden Balangay Foundation considered "outstanding Filipino Canadians" were honoured with its "Golden Balangay Awards" during a recent ceremony in the City of Niagara Falls.
Somehow, the foundation's search for a recipient of its "community service award" ended with the choice from a field of 12 of the self-declared founder of Taste of Manila (ToM) festival, Rolly Mangante, the erstwhile driver at the Philippine Consulate here.
Just how he bested 11 nominees is unclear. Who vetted him? The voting process, the foundation says, is performed online by a panel of judges consisting of "previous winners and/or respected individuals, community leaders, professionals, etc."
Not to doubt the integrity of the anonymous judges, but I suspect they might have been carried away by social media blitz undertaken by a bullnecked, land-based (as opposed to seaborne) Facebook chameleon who in a span of several months has refashioned her online identity as frequent as changing garment.
Since the face could not be improved upon by tons of makeup, the chameleon had to dig deeper into her Halloween vault to find a suitable younger-looking face. At times I wonder if the face is someone else's, or just rented from Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London.
As a journalist dedicated to telling the truth, I take issue with the choice of Mangante. He isn't the role model they made him to be, regardless of his perceived success in marketing ToM to unsuspecting patrons.
For how could the judges ignore information - accessible to anyone using the computer - about Mangante, his many claims, and disgraceful conduct promoting ToM?
(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/01/3-in-1-who-is-amba-congen-consul-of.html)
At the opulent awarding ceremony at the Sheraton Niagara Fallsview Hotel on Sept. 7, the foundation bestowed on Mangante its community service award along with recipients of other awards.
The award, according to its website, "recognizes an individual who is making a significant contribution to their community through their time, actions, talents and dedication in their volunteer activities; demonstrates qualities of compassion, and service to either one organization or a variety of volunteer activities; and serves as a role model for compassion, dedication and service."
That the foundation gave the award, however shadowy it is, to Mangante speaks more about the foundation and its officials than about Mangante himself. It'll be a folly to make him a paragon of virtue, or as they put it, "a role model for compassion, dedication and service" in the Filipino community. WTF?
What "compassion"? During the Aug. 17-18, 2024 ToM festival, Mangante and his minions fulfilled his vow to punish on-site vendors who refused to "donate" to ToM by erecting a steel fence in front of their establishments, effectively denying customers access to their stores.
City authorities contacted by this reporter said the fence was illegal as the city did not sanction its installation on the street (Bathurst) and sidewalk, which are city property, not private property. (Video at: ToM Organizers Install a Monument to Their Greed - a Steel Fence).
Mangante had heated verbal exchange with one of the storeowners who complained against being blocked by the fence. Witnesses said Mangante called the police and allegedly reported that he was being assaulted.
Could we assume those establishments which were not obstructed coughed up the money demanded by ToM organizers? How much?
What "dedication and service"? Mangante was so desperate to promote his wife, Nieves Mangante, as "first lady" (according to someone moonlighting as a writer), and his close friends that he had authorized stealing film footage and photos of earlier ToM festivals from The Filipino Web Channel, spliced them with images of politicians like MP Marco Mendicino, Toronto Mayor John Tory, Councillor James Pasternak, and partner Cecile Araneta.
The manipulated video was then used to promote a virtual ToM festival at the height of the coronavirus pandemic when in-person events were prohibited. (Video at: Social Climbers in PESO Steal Street Festival Content)
The Golden Balangay Award to Mangante should not be foisted on the community. I have no doubt it will be used to further elevate himself the same way he tried to convince people in Manila to support ToM by showing my videos running in The Filipino Web Channel.
He was not content with stealing; he had to show how he supposedly managed a festival to great success, which is again false! The untold truth - kept secret for a long time - is that the whole ToM affair was being run by the low-key Teresa Torralba, his chief of staff.
Mangante was incapable of making arrangement with Toronto officials; he's linguistically-challenged, that's why he spoke in Tagalog during the award ceremony. Remember when he said "abonizing" to mean advancing payments for certain dues? That's bastardized Tagalog-English word not in the dictionary.
All the while it was Teresa Torralba calling the shots on behalf of Mangante who people thought was a good manager. But giving credit where credit is due, Mangante was a good driver (of a motor vehicle).
In Mangante's Golden Balangay Award by the foundation, our best Filipino values are sacrificed for some friendly pat on the back in consideration of what . . . money? Nobody knows, no one's telling.
Wrongdoers should never be enabled. But the Golden Balangay Foundation just did it, not for the community, but for some unexplained (and selfish?) reasons. (Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved).
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