Volume 6, Issue No. 33
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Friday, February 14, 2025
~ One Member of Parliament calls it "a problem" - a reference to the steel fence installed "illegally," some say, blocking access to five storefronts as a way of punishing vendors who had refused to cough up money for organizers of Taste of Manila (ToM) festival last year. Another MP didn't list the event in his calendar, perhaps an indication of the souring of relations and a withdrawal of support. Contrary to popular belief, ToM is a family business, not a community venture, supposedly owned and managed by Rolly Mangante alias Kabise and his family.
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TASTE OF MANILA
Is The Street Fest Losing Support?
The Event Is Not Listed in an MP's Calendar
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"Using coercion to drive charity is like using kidnapping to create love." - Stefan Molyneux
TORONTO - Perhaps I'm putting a lot of meaning to what may be an innocuous listing of community events in the 2025 calendar of Marco Mendicino, Member of Parliament for Eglinton-Lawrence.
This week I received a copy of his desk calendar, one of several from provincial and federal officials, including from Robin Martin, Member of Provincial Parliament for the same ward.
My representative on the municipal level is Michael Colle, the Toronto City Councillor, who also acts as Deputy Mayor for the northern parts of the city.
As a tax-paying resident of North York, Mendicino and Martin are my elected officials in the federal and provincial parliaments. Incidentally neither one is running for re-election in their respective districts.
Last year I called the attention of MPP Martin for a serious mistake in her 2024 calendar. I was unbelieving to find that the 28th of August 2024 was omitted in that calendar. Was it somebody in her staff not counting the days correctly, or the printer neglected to proofread the material?
Her 2025 calendar also reveals she doesn't care about her Filipino constituency. There's not a single Filipino event schedule whereas Armenian, Greek, Jewish, Irish, etc. holidays are duly noted. I was hoping to see Philippine Independence Day on June 12 in the list. No luck.
In contrast, MP Mendicino's calendar lists the very significant day, plus a couple of pictures of him with Filipino community leaders. Now, the big surprise is why the single most-celebrated event - the Taste of Manila (ToM) festival held close to his district - is shut out.
From Day 1 of ToM, Mendicino is an avid supporter of the festival. He had been responsible for the modest rise to fame of Rolly "kabise" Mangante, self-proclaimed ToM founder, calling him all the time as "Tito Rolly."
That moniker stuck and, of course, Mangante used it as capital to advance his personal interests, knowing it alludes to a close personal relationship with a responsible political figure.
Why then is ToM excluded from Mendicino's calendar for August 2025 when ToM is staged since it first started in 2014 in the same Little Manila hub that borders his district?
That same calendar shows three group pictures of Filipinos, notable of which are Agnes Miranda (in month of April), Tere Torralba (in December), and several Filipino women in costumes (in June).
Mangante, ToM, and its agent SPARC or Society of Philippine (con?) Artists, Recreation and Community are nowhere in any of the calendar's 14 pages. FUN Philippines Festival occupies the December page. What happen to ToM?
I suspect MP Mendicino is distancing himself from ToM and SPARC after they installed a steel fence blocking access to five commercial establishments facing Bathurst St., the main festival site.
Erecting the fence because the parties refused to pay up so-called donation money was an audacious shakedown. In the words of those affected, it was plain and simple extortion.
Neither ToM nor SPARC reacted to the video coverage and several articles since sevens months ago. Toronto Councillor James Pasternak also did not reply when sought for comment on Aug. 19, 2024.
Related videos:
MP Ya'ara Saks whose York Centre district encompasses Little Manila, was the sole exception in this ToM controversy.
She rebuked festival organizers, saying: "Local businesses should be able to serve their customers and clients without restrictions and without any barriers because these businesses are supposed to enhance the life within community and not create barriers."
(Full story and video:
The lingering question now is: will ToM and SPARC commit to uphold "diversity," one of their two buzzwords, instead of promoting antipathy over some amount of money?
Should a family business disguised as a community enterprise enjoy some form of government subsidy through the waiving of taxes and dues? (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
