Volume 6, Issue No. 49
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Monday, May 5, 2025
~ Freedom lovers across the world marked World Press Freedom Day last week to highlight media's role as a watchdog. From the United Nations to war-torn countries, the media work tirelessly amidst the dangers to life and limb. Here in Toronto, the ethnic press commemorated the day in conjunction with a birthday social. But minutes earlier, an official of the organization warned a cease and desist order might be forthcoming if poking into a local media controversy would not stop.
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CANADA'S ETHNIC MEDIA CELEBRATION
Threat, Intimidation on World Press Freedom Day
Who's Lying, the Whistleblower or the Tabloid Editors?
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"Free and independent journalism is an essential public good. It's the backbone of accountability, justice, equality, and human rights." - Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
TORONTO - The story I've been pursuing since 2023 has not been fully settled to a certainty, and so on Friday, May 2, I went to cover the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada's celebration of World Press Freedom Day at Toronto City Hall.
Digging facts, talking to people, chasing leads, and cross-referencing claims are part of the rigorous process in the quest for truth especially if the story affects people, organizations, and the government as this one does.
Those reasons brought me there, unmindful of the inconvenience of the rush hour commute and the real possibility of being refused entry, hoping the people I was seeking clarity from would talk to me and honestly answer my questions.
Two years have passed since Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia, husband-and-wife editors of the tabloid The Philippine Reporter (TPR) evaded and ignored inquiries about the fully documented exposé involving them by their then-staff writer, the artist Michelle Chermaine Ramos.
Was I courting trouble walking into what may be a lion's den? A journalist's pursuit of the unknown is always a recipe for overt and threatening hostility from people who may or may not be involved, depending on the outcome of an inquiry.
In my years doing investigative journalism, I'd say the effort brings countless rewards of wisdom, a wealth of experience, and a copious amount of lawsuits, not to say the inevitable physical perils that could end one's lifelong career.
At this moment I thought about a reminder from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists which says: "fearless journalism matters more than ever . . . we remain committed to uncovering hidden truths and holding the powerful to account . . . "
So, right now I'm throwing caution to the wind. I'm a truth seeker and truth teller, am I not? Well, that's the motto I coined for my news and social media outlets.
After initially ignoring my presence at the City Hall lobby on that Friday evening, Ms. Voutsinas approached, called me by my nickname for the first time, and fired off: "What do you want to know?"
Her hostility was very much evident in tone and body language. However, in face-to-face confrontations like this now, I am not one to back away. I had worse experiences in the past, mostly in the United States.
In a soft and calm demeanor I could muster, I asked her what the NEPMCC has done to the Garcia couple following Ms. Ramos' revelations that they tricked and tried to stiff her and another writer of their salaries as reporters for the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) of the federal government.
Not only that. Hermie Garcia fabricated the lie that an official of Canadian Heritage, the department that oversees LJI which is being implemented by NEPMCC, had been withholding grant money, and if ever the money came, they came in trickles.
The Garcia-owned TPR is one of the media outlets receiving grant money (meaning taxpayers' money) from LJI and Canada Periodical Fund to enable it to hire its own staff to write under the LJI banner, in this case, Ms. Ramos and the Edmonton-based writer.
(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/lies-deceptions-by-philippine-reporter.html).
Though Ms. Ramos was skeptical of his explanation, she continued to write for LJI, endured the delay in receiving her salary for months until she finally had it, went to NEPMCC to inquire why her work was not being compensated on time.
That's when she learned that Hermie Garcia was lying, deceiving her with the false narrative that Canadian Heritage was responsible for what she's going through.
The "grant guy" supposedly holding the money off was also a lie; he was invented by Hermie Garcia to evade scrutiny. This information was conveyed to her by Ms. Voutsinas herself, Ms. Ramos had said earlier.
Now, Ms. Voutsinas appeared to be contradicting herself. "What Michelle (Ramos) told you is not true!" she replied to my question, obviously setting aside documentation Ms. Ramos has submitted to the organization and to Canadian Heritage backing up her claim.
I was shocked. She's basically turning the table on her without explanation instead of on the Garcia couple. She's defending them, and making a liar of Ms. Ramos. Even more seriously, she's also calling the other LJI writer in Edmonton, Alberta - a member of Anakbayan - who grumbled about not being paid, a liar.
Yet previously, when Ms. Ramos complained about her LJI salary, it was Ms. Voutsinas who told her that the full amount of grant money had been handed to Hermie Garcia months before, so there should be no problem in compensating her.
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When I asked Ms. Voutsinas to clarify, she said the issue has been, in her own words, "dealt with." To what extent? I asked. She didn't say.
Were the couple sanctioned? I asked again. "They were sanctioned," was her quick retort. How and to what extent, she would not say.
If the documented lies and deception by the Garcias aren't true as claimed, why would Ms. Voutsinas insist the issue has been "dealt with" and the couple already "sanctioned"?
To all intents and purposes, Ms. Voutsinas' denial only serves to confirm, rather than belie, Ms. Ramos' complaint.
Ms. Voutsinas grew agitated whenever I questioned her. She then told me that I'm not welcome to attend the World Press Freedom Day held this Friday (May 2) in conjunction with the 80-something birthday of her father Thomas Saras.
If I insisted on going, she said she would call security to escort me out of the building. It was like I'm posing a threat. I explained that I wanted to cover the event, take pictures and shoot videos, and then leave.
"He (her father) considers you a friend," she said, hinting that I should stop looking into the issues raised by Ms. Ramos. (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFgYaFvRz8I).
"I'm not here to upset anyone," I explained. "I have great respect for Mr. Saras. I have no personal beef with the Garcia couple. All I want is to get candid answers to my questions, that's it."
My assurance to not create trouble didn't seem enough to assuage her. She warned that a cease and desist order might be forthcoming if I continue to poke into NEPMCC. (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
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