Volume 6, Issue No. 31
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Thursday, January 30, 2025
~ No matter how politically-correct it was, MP Ya'ara Saks' statement on the past Taste of Manila festival could be construed as a rebuke to the men and women behind the organizations that mounted the street fest in August 2024. A 13-feet high steel barrier that denied access to business establishments is no welcome mat, yet it stood there undisturbed for two days, with nobody saying anything to condemn it. Fortunately, however, the minister's reaction is a refreshing sign that could lead to changes in community events policing.
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M.P. YA'ARA SAKS' REACTION
Taste of Manila Gets a Rebuke
"Businesses Enhance Life, Not Create Barriers"
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
TORONTO - The reaction by MP Ya'ara Saks to merchants who refused to be victims of a shakedown by unnamed organizers of the Taste of Manila (ToM) festival should jolt the community to the real potential of their event being used for extortion.
Saks is the Liberal Member of Parliament for York Centre, and holds the portfolios of Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLl_ud3-Xew).
ToM, held yearly in her district's Little Manila hub, has morphed into a family business with a view of reaping profits, practically shredding its character and the promise of integrating the community instead of polarizing it.
Now, ToM is supposedly owned and managed by its self-proclaimed founder, Rolly Mangante alias "kabise," his wife Nieves, the self-ordained "first lady," and their daughters.
Mangante had worked as a driver at the Philippine Consulate where the idea of ToM was being crystallized during the term of the late Consul General Pedro Chan who had presented it to Toronto authorities led by then Police Chief Bill Blair. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/09/was-number-of-tom-attendees-exaggerated.html).
To say now that ToM is for the community is to mislead the people who patronized it for the past 10 years, believing they're helping the needy who stand to benefit from projects Mangante had envisioned once ToM has stabilized and begins to earn money.
Alas, that promise is dead in the water while Mangante's business flourishes with the help and support of the local government and his chosen "managers" - first PCCC, second PLACA, third PESO, fourth IEC, and fifth and latest SPARC.
It was the Mangante-SPARC tandem that organized the August 2024 ToM. I have joked about SPARC (which stands for Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community) by inserting the word con before artists, so it'll read con artists.
One major point is that there's no artist in SPARC; it's a two-member team of Danilo "Sani" Baluyot and the chameleon-like Rose Ami, alias Rose To, alias Marites Tolits, alias Rosemarie Ami-Seaborn.
Neither is an artist in the sense of how the dictionary defines it as "a person who creates art (such as sculpture, music, or writing) using conscious skill and creative imagination."
Con artists would appear appropriate considering what had happened on Aug. 17-18, 2024 when workers surreptitiously installed 13-feet high steel fence to block access to several onsite establishments facing Bathurst St., the main ToM festival site.
"Kailangan siguro nila . . . humihingi sila ng pera para buksan yung harap ko," complained Jonathan Mayor Pecpec, owner of a beauty salon that bears his name. (Roughly translated: "They ask money to dismantle the fence and open access). (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btf2yoU4AaE).
Erecting a steel fence to punish noncompliant merchants is no welcome mat, it's an intimidating barrier that goes against SPARC's purported mission, which is, and I quote, "to help and assist Filipino entrepreneurs."
I hesitate to believe that there are people within ToM and SPARC who are involved in fleecing vendors, as manifested so clearly by the steel barricade. That fence stood for two days as a monument to their greed. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/12/for-some-money-tom-and-sparc-went-rogue.html).
The issues raised by business owners have been ignored by city and provincial authorities, and even by the police, except now that MP Saks, a federal official, has acknowledged what had transpired and called it "a problem" that could be resolved at the municipal level.
"Local businesses should be able to serve their customers and clients without restrictions and without any barriers," she said, "because these businesses are supposed to enhance the life within community and not create barriers."
Though it's a municipal issue, MP Saks' reaction should be the start of an initiative to discuss community events policing involving true representatives of the community, merchants, corporate entities, and not just leave the matter to a few men and women who, for all we know, are extortionists disguised as do-gooders.
"I would strongly encourage the local city councillor to work with the local businesses here to get it addressed because I don't think it's acceptable," MP Saks added. (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
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