Volume 7, Issue No. 1
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Tuesday, July 15, 2025
~ This month, the online Filipino Web Magazine enters its seventh year serving the community here in Canada and elsewhere in the United States, the Philippines and Europe. There's so much to be said about the homeland and the adopted lands and their people. Admittedly we're a tiny speck in the news universe, but we try to make a difference in reporting. The past six years have been fruitful especially in terms of winning more readers. Thank you so much for the unending support. Cheers!
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FILIPINO WEB MAGAZINE
Strong As Ever On Its 7th Year
The Outlet Has Amassed Thousands of Readers
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." - Walter Bagehot
TORONTO - This month is one of those rare times we blow our horn to mark a milestone in online reporting: the Filipino Web Magazine (FWM) is way past the initial challenges and now on to its seventh year.
Its birth in 2019 has been less auspicious, much of it because of circumstances that had tested an individual's (mine) willingness to sacrifice the truth and uphold a friendship, or stand for the very principles affirming the truth - beautiful or ugly - regardless of the outcome.
I chose the latter.
I didn't know I had a significant following. Readers who kept track of my commentaries and news reporting had migrated from a print medium that had been my platform for seven years to FWM and my other vlogs.
My refusal to embrace gossip as solid news and speculations as basis for investigative reports, was too cumbersome for the understanding of the incompetent principal who happened to call the shots there, thus sparking my ouster.
Some readers had thought a misfortune had fallen on me. In truth, my departure was an unexpected blessing that had lifted me from the pit of hypocrisy and ignorance prevailing in that print outlet.
The biggest impact of my exit was on readers. The vacuum that soon followed caused some confusion. Emails came my way asking why I stopped writing for that paper.
And that's when I realized a considerable number of readers was trailing me because I was feeding their minds with fresh incontrovertible facts, dug up conscientiously and replicated into a fine article.
So, from dozens to hundred to thousands, the growing number of followers/readers binge on stories I write and publish on FWM and complimented by videos on my YouTube channels.
Based on Google analytics, FWM averages at least a thousand readers a month. That figure is nowhere near the small number I had writing for a newspaper, which, to be kind, was also considerable given that printed copies were limited to the Filipino community and to Chinese supermarkets which use them for wrappers.
In the past six years of FWM, I've written a total of 355 articles online. In comparison, my printed output was only a third of that number mainly because the paper had only fixed numbers in circulation, a fortnightly frequency and, of course, a gratuitous devotion to entertainment and rumour-mongering.
Unsurprising in these analytics was the huge reader turnout for stories involving Teresita "Tess" Cusipag, publisher and so-called editor of Balita tabloid, and her archenemy, businesswoman Lily Miranda.
For the six months ending July 2025, their feud, which culminated in Ms. Miranda's winning her defamation lawsuit against Ms. Cusipag and her endless whining about her loss, occupied the top two slots.
Related stories:
Artist and journalist Michelle Chermaine Ramos' exposé about the lies and deception of Hermie Garcia and Mila Garcia of The Philippine Reporter and its impact on the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada engaged readers to land as among the most-read articles in FWM.
Related stories:
The raffle fiasco by Fiesta Extravaganza of Von Canton and company in Brampton as well as the questionable "community service award" given to Rolly "kabise" Mangante and Taste of Manila festival by a dubious foundation drew the attention of hundreds of skeptics.
Related stories:
That those stories would both delight and outrage readers show an appreciation for in-depth reporting that's basically lacking in Filipino community periodicals.
While the number of readers rise, however, they're also passive. It seems they don't have the appetite to get involved with either of the parties in the controversy, perhaps due to friendship and other factors.
Be that as it may, I'm truly grateful and humbled by the continuous stream of readers from four geographic areas, namely, Canada, the United States, the Philippines, and collectively in Europe, particularly in London, Madrid and Berlin.
Some friends and critics alike have told me before that exiting that tabloid would practically slow down, or grimly, end the chapter of community journalism I started in the mid-90s in California and in 2010 in Toronto.
Well, to quote again British journalist and essayist Walter Bagehot: "The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
