Saturday, 16 August 2025

Toronto Taxpayers Are Funding Taste of Manila

Volume 7, Issue No. 9 
 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 Saturday, August 16, 2025
  
 ~ A whopping $34,000 of Toronto taxpayers' money has gone to the family-owned Taste of Manila (ToM) festival this year ostensibly to help in its expenses. The amount is nearly six times more than what the Mabuhay Philippines Festival received, which was $6,098, according to official sources. ToM has been secretive about its finances, but with the infusion of public funds, would it account for every dime it spends despite an alleged non-disclosure agreement that supposedly seals off the usually-talkative mouths of its organizers?

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

 THE SECRETIVE FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS 
 Taste of Manila Is Partly Funded by Taxpayers 
 $34K of Public Money Goes to Private Entity  

 By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ  Editor, The Filipino Web Channel 

 “Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within.” ― Arthur Erickson 

TORONTO - Reason escapes me why taxpayers' money should partly subsidize a family-owned business venture disguised as a community festival. 

There are cultural grounds, I understand, but when such a feast as Taste of Manila (ToM) transforms to a private entity, the motive changes from a neighbourhood outreach to a profit-seeking adventure. 

An example that easily comes to mind is the installation last year of a 13-foot high steel fence blocking establishments that refused to cough up grease money allegedly to help ToM. (Video at: ToM Organizers Install a Monument to Their Greed - a Steel Fence). 

ToM's forebear is questionable. Its birth is dubious despite claims by Rolly "kabise" Mangante that he founded it while he worked as a driver at the Philippine Consulate. 

I know how ToM came about. I know how Mangante enlisted the support of skeptical businesses that were suspicious of his motives given the nature of his work and the manner he carried himself and acted. 

The practical joke slapped by people who called him "amba" for ambassador and "congen" for consul general did not get on his nerves, rather, he happily embraced it and quite played the part by at least overdressing. Public appearances matter. 

How he and his "artists" at SPARC managed to wangle money - taxpayers' money - from the City of Toronto has not been explained, nor the grant announced. 

It is not unreasonable to assume that James Pasternak, the councillor representing the area of Little Manila, the epicentre of ToM festival, helped secure government funding. For years, he has been a lifeline for ToM. (Video at: Ramon Datol Defends Stolen Videos Now Being Used by Taste of Manila). Ramon Datol Defends Stolen Videos Now Being Used by Taste of Manila 

Obviously, time and circumstance have changed. In April 2022, Mangante declared that, in his words: "We don't have any funding from the government . . . The money is coming from our vendors, organizers . . . " How much money did ToM make from corporate sponsors and vendors?

By "organizers" he meant Cecille Araneta and Ramon "Mondee" Datol, the team that formed International Entertainment Company (IEC) which contracted with Mangante to hold and manage ToM for the next three years beginning in August 2022. 

One IEC event later, Araneta and Datol would be thrown under the bus. In came SPARC of smooth-talking Sani Baluyot and the four-dimensional troll Rose To aka Marites Tolits aka Rose Ami aka Rosemarie Ami-Seaborn. 

Datol decried what he called betrayal by Mangante, saying in Tagalog (loosely translated here in English): "There's no more friendships when it comes to money. And then you'd even smear us and stab us behind our back. Where's the respect?" (Video at the 4:17 mark: "Himutok" and "Hinagpis" Due to Betrayal by ToM's Rolly Mangante). 

This year's ToM seems to be swimming in cash, part of it coming from taxpayers. According to city officials, ToM has been awarded $34,000. Usually, the city said, such money is spent for safety, security and production expenses. 

But ToM is no longer a community festival that it purports to be. Mangante's family - him, his wife (the so-called first lady of ToM), and a daughter - now runs it through a maze of business interests like the Taste of Manila Foundation Inc. and a company denominated as 5012252 Ontario Inc. 

Were Mangante, Baluyot and Rose To aka Marites Tolits aka Rose Ami aka Rosemarie Ami-Seaborn truthful in portraying ToM as needing financial support when they applied and secured taxpayer dollars from the City? 

What role did Councillor Pasternak play in supporting ToM? Was he made aware of the financial situation of ToM, being one of its staunchest political backers? Why was Pasternak quiet about the "illegal" fence ToM had set up last year blocking several establishments that refused to "donate" money to ToM? (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLl_ud3-Xew). 

To former MP Ya'ara Saks, "Everyone should benefit when a community festivalcomes in the area." Why then did the City extend financial benefits to ToM when it practices bullying and discrimination? (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).

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