Volume 6, Issue No. 37
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Wednesday, March 12, 2025
~ The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) is awash in taxpayers' money courtesy of the federal government. The so-called "Canada's other voices" is also looking forward to funds the provincial government of Ontario might allocate. Meanwhile, editors of The Philippine Reporter who were exposed for their mendacious activities and flagrant violations of rules and code of ethics are unsanctioned and continue to sit as NEPMCC officials.
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IS THE PHILIPPINE REPORTER NOW DEFUNCT?
NEPMCC Recipient of Millions in Taxpayers' Money
2 Editors Who Tried to Stiff Writers Unsanctioned
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"The essence of lying is in deception, not in words." - John Ruskin
TORONTO - Millions of taxpayers' dollars continuously flow into the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) for several years, yet in one recent instance, editors of a member publication had tried to dupe staffers into believing their grant salaries had been withheld by Canadian Heritage, the government arm responsible for promoting and supporting initiatives on identity, values and cultural development.
The largest, amounting to $2,400,000.00, had been allocated on April 1, 2021 to fund the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) from April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2025. LJI is the federal government's information reach-out to underserved communities through NEPMCC, which administers the fund to qualified members.
Three tranches of $1,800,000.00 each went out on April 1, 2021 for LJI for the period April 1, 2021 to March 2024. Canadian Heritage has not clarified the identical entries totaling $5,400,000.00 as of this writing, or why there appears to be an overlap in the dates.
If the entries are correct, it means that NEPMCC had been granted an aggregate amount of $7.8 million just for the four-year period alone.
In years prior, Canadian Heritage also extended grant monies to NEPMCC in the six-figure and five-figure categories for the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) totaling $932,800.00, broken down as follows: $245,000 in July 2020; $220,090 in September 2021; $196,320 in October 2023; $175,390 in May 2018; and $96,000 in March 2011, documents show.
The government said "CPF provides financial assistance to Canadian print magazines, print community newspapers (non-daily) and digital periodicals, to enable them to overcome market disadvantages and continue to provide Canadian readers with the content they choose to read."
For both LJI and CPF, neither NEPMCC nor Canadian Heritage identified ethnic media member beneficiaries, or how much each of them received as grant money, or how it was spent.
The availability of LJI funds did not square with the claims of the couple Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia, editors at The Philippine Reporter (TPR), the left-leaning fortnightly (until it was gone) that had qualified for LJI funds.
The Garcias had informed two of their writers that money for their salaries as LJI reporters were being held in abeyance by Canadian Heritage pending compliance with certain requirements.
It was a hoax, an elaborate scheme concocted by the Garcias and discovered no less by their staff writer - artist and journalist Michelle Chermaine Ramos. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTJc42WrFRQ).
Losing patience after constantly working as LJI reporter for TPR but unpaid for extended periods, Ms. Ramos had gone to NEPMCC to inquire about the frequent delays in her salary. That's when she found out the Garcias' many mendacities.
Ms. Ramos and another TPR writer based in Edmonton, Alberta - ironically, a member of Anakbayan, a left-leaning advocate being promoted by TPR - were being victimized at that time but didn't know it.
The deception began in 2022 onwards, and unraveled in June 2023 when Ms. Ramos made a public showing of the fabrication and lies being perpetrated by Hermie Garcia and his wife Mila A. Garcia. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/lies-deceptions-by-philippine-reporter.html).
Hermie Garcia had been telling Ms. Ramos that her LJI pay was being retained by a "grant guy" in Canadian Heritage - a claim proven to be a falsehood by NEPMCC Executive Director Maria Saras-Voutsinas.
Furthermore, Ms. Voutsinas unloaded more information than Ms. Ramos had expected, telling her there was no "grant guy" as she's the one managing the money, and that the full amount of money for LJI reporters had been handed to Hermie Garcia and TPR in advance of the program. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/10/canadian-heritage-acts-on-funding-local.html).
What was so shocking was the other revelation that Ms. Ramos' colleague in Edmonton who refused to be identified in the story, was experiencing the same pernicious treatment by Hermie Garcia in relation to her LJI reporting and salary.
In a list published on the website of NEPMCC, the non-profit organization headed by Thomas Saras, editor and CEO of the monthly Greek newspaper Patrides, TPR is one of the 90 members that had applied for LJI funds out of a total membership of over 350. This number is practically a little more than half what NEPMCC had in 2013, which was 600. Recent figures said membership had gone up to 1,200.
The current listing of members (unverified if true or not) shows Filipino-owned periodicals, namely, Balita, Filipino Journal, Filipinos Making Waves, Filipino Star, Filipiniana News, Philippine Asian News Today, Planet Philippine, Philippine Chronicle, and The Philippine Reporter. Four in the list appears to be defunct.
For example, the last known print issue of TPR was in July 2024. It seems clear its demise was precipitated by rising printing costs, a fact worsened by Ms. Ramos' exposé that led to its losing credibility and advertising support.
Despite their mendacious activities and flagrant violations of NEPMCC's rules and code of ethics, the Garcias are unsanctioned by the organization's top leadership.
Hermie Garcia still sits on the NEPMCC executive board as senior vice president for human rights and free press. His wife, Mila A. Garcia, is vice president for humanitarian and immigration affairs, and is one of 36 NEPMCC vice presidents, although the list shows only 20.
While NEPMCC may be luxuriating in taxpayers' money, Saras announced that the "Ontario government might allocate funds to ethnic media publications based in Ontario." That would be a boon, if it happens.
With printing costs on the rise and prompting shutdowns, Saras, according to the NEPMCC website, "suggested that with the available funds with NEPMCC and a bank loan, NEPMCC could buy a machine for printing newspapers." He did not disclose how much of those funds are with the NEPMCC.
Saras, Ms. Voutsinas, and Canadian Heritage did not respond to questions as of publication time. In previous attempts to get their side, the Garcias did not bother to reply. (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
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