Were Hermie and Mila Garcia Ousted from Ethnic Press?

Volume 7, Issue No. 4

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . 

Our latest as of Tuesday, July 29, 2025 

~  The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada appears to be withholding the names of its new board of directors by limiting its release only to members. The preceding board had two officials - Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia - who were exposed for their lies and deceptive schemes on their two staff writers, on a federal agency and on the organization itself. Were they ousted, and the press group now tries to cover it up? 

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THE CASE OF HERMIE AND MILA A. GARCIA  

Did NEPMCC Oust Them?

Names of New Board Released Only to Members

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"To say nothing is saying something. You must denounce things you are against or one might believe that you support things you really do not." - Germany Kent

TORONTO - Of the 2,116 words contained in 142 sentences that make up the Statement of Principles of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) there's not a single mention of the word "transparency."

So there's no mistaking what it means, the Cambridge dictionary defines transparency as "the quality of being done in an open way without secrets" or "the characteristic of being easy to see through."

None of those definitions appear in NEPMCC. I read the Statement five times and combed through every sentence in hopes of finding justification of why the organization seems to have resorted to self-censorship in not releasing names of a new board of directors for 2025-2027.

At best, transparency is inferred in this wise: "Journalists must be free to comment on the activities of any publicly elected body or special-interest organization."

In the June 9, 2025 minutes of its meeting published recently on its website, NEPMCC announced, and I quote: "The List of the new Board for (sic) Directors for 2025-2027 was mailed to all the members."

That aroused my curiosity. Why was it mailed instead of posting the contents to its website where anyone can see it? 

It is significant when viewed in light of questions surrounding two NEPMCC officials, namely, Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia, the conjugal owners and editors of The Philippine Reporter (TPR), the left-leaning tabloid that appears to have shutdown.

The couple are members of the board for the term 2023-2025, he, as one of the 13-member executive board being senior VP, and she, as one of the 20 vice presidents. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/05/hermie-and-mila-garcia-freedom-fighters.html).

Withholding names of board members for scrutiny does not speak of transparency. Taxpayers like us have every right to know how their tax dollars are being disbursed by the federal government to recipients like NEPMCC.

I am now prompted to ask: could the Garcias have been ousted, dismissed, thrown out, punished, or sanctioned by NEPMCC because of what they did to their TPR reporters Michelle Chermaine Ramos and a writer based in Edmonton, Alberta?

Is NEPMCC trying to protect them by not releasing the names of the new board because the Garcias are probably no longer there, although they remain NEPMCC members for their defunct (?) newspaper?

"They were sanctioned," was how Maria Saras Voutsinas, executive managing director, described what the NEPMCC purportedly did to the couple in a brief talk in May at Toronto City Hall. And that was all, no further explanation.

Related stories: 

1. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-not-so-welcoming-world-press-freedom.html

2. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/05/forsaking-truth-for-friendship-at.html

Her word that the Garcias were "sanctioned" was an implicit admission of the wrongs they brought about not only against their staff writers but also against the federal Canadian Heritage and its officials and NEPMCC.

Canadian Heritage provides funding for its information outreach called Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) which is implemented by NEPMCC through its members, among them the Garcias' TPR.

The Garcias concocted an elaborate story, told repeatedly to Ms. Ramos and to the Edmonton writer without the knowledge of NEPMCC, that a "grant guy" at Canadian Heritage had been withholding their salaries as LJI reporters for months.

It was a lie and a deception apparently to hide significant amounts of money that they had used for something else. When the writers inquired about their salaries, the same trickery was foisted on them.

All the times it was happening, the Garcias had the full grant money on their hands, paid in lump sum in advance of the LJI project for the salaries of LJI reporters.

This is why the listing of names of new board member is critical to the practice of journalism. Would NEPMCC allow itself to cover up the unlawful and unethical practice of members?

One of the ethical guidelines embodied in NEPMCC's Statement of Principles states: "Journalists who abuse their power for selfish motives or unworthy purposes betray the public trust." That should speak for itself.

Another says: "News organizations should not tell journalists to commit illegal or improper acts."

My question: But what if it's the organization itself and its editors who are committing illegal or improper acts? Where do the aggrieved parties run? (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).