Volume 7, Issue No. 17
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 Wednesday, October 1, 2025
~ A local writer has affirmed in an article that the co-editors of the left-leaning The Philippine Reporter, namely Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia, were imprisoned for "leftist activities" and not for "criticizing" the (Ferdinand E.) Marcos dictatorship as what the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) claims, after which it recognized them with "certificates of awards." A complaint by former staff writer Michelle Chermaine Ramos against the Garcia couple for their lies and deceptive practices remains unacted.
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WRITER RODEL J. RAMOS SAYS:
Hermie and Mila A. Garcia Landed
in Prison for Their 'Leftist Activities'
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"Beware the demon of pomposity." - Katharine Graham
TORONTO - Tabloid writer Rodel J. Ramos begins his narrative with a swipe at the unidentified journalist in this wise: "A writer made fun of the Philippine Press Club Ontario (PPC-O) calling it Philippine 'Praise' Club Ontario. He believes it is only a social club. We do not blame him. He was new in Toronto then . . . "
The mild rebuke was obviously directed at me, understandably so since nobody else had referred to that association in such a mocking manner. Though he did not identify me by name, his portrayal of "a writer" making fun of PPCO obviously fits me. Frankly, I don't take offense.
But it's not what Rodel wrote about PPCO that has aroused my interest while reading his lengthy piece titled "How the Media Influenced the Toronto Community - Chapter 1" in the September 2025 issue of Atin Ito newspaper. (https://online.fliphtml5.com/ufflc/mbvl/#p=32).
On page 33, top of the fourth column, he stated: " . . . Hermie (Garcia) was imprisoned for 6 years by (Ferdinand E.) Marcos and Mila Garcia for 10 years for their leftist activities against the Marcos Government."
The operative phrase "leftist activities" stands out. For one, it negates published claims that the Garcia couple were imprisoned for their writings supposedly critical of the martial law regime in the 1970's in the Philippines.
For another, it belies the lies amplified by the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) which honoured them with "certificates of awards" during its "Freedom of the Press Celebrations" in May 2023 at Toronto City Hall.
(Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFgYaFvRz8I).
That's the whole point of this essay - to call attention to a misunderstanding by NEPMCC officials of the real role Hermie Garcia and Mila Garcia played in Philippine politics that led to their imprisonment.
I must thank Rodel for affirming what several journalists had written about the couple - that they're not what the NEPMCC had been led to believe. Honest, ethical individuals would have corrected the egregious lies about them.
According to Thomas Saras, NEPMCC president, "Hermie Garcia spent 12 years in jail under Marcos for criticizing the Marcos dictatorship and his wife Mila also for a number of years for criticizing the dictatorship of Marcos."
That's awfully wrong. Regardless of the number of years in prison (Rodel says six for Hermie and 10 for Mila; writer Jennilee Austria claims six-and-a-half years for Hermie; Saras declares 12 for Hermie; and Hermie maintains "a month and a half"), the fact is indisputable that their incarceration was for subversion.
Hermie Garcia himself admitted that he and Mila Garcia were "arrested and charged by the Marcos military with rebellion" in 1974. They fled to Canada after their release and started the left-leaning and now defunct (?) The Philippine Reporter (TPR) tabloid.
I have taken issue with Saras' characterization for the reason that journalism or being a critic of Marcos had nothing to do with their imprisonment. The NEPMCC practically made heroes of the Garcias in the eyes of the hundreds of members of Canada's ethnic press.
(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/lies-deceptions-by-philippine-reporter.html).
Months before the NEPMCC recognition in May 2023, artist and journalist Michelle Chermaine Ramos (no relation to Rodel Ramos) was already indignant at what was happening with her salary as a reporter for the federal government-funded Local Journalism Initiative (LJI), which NEPMCC is implementing through its members, among them TPR.
LJI is one of two (the other is the Canada Periodical Fund) budget commitments launched by Canadian Heritage in 2022 to support local journalism in underserved communities with an investment of $40 million over three years starting 2022-23.
For the same period, an additional $10 million was allocated for LJI alone. TPR became beneficiaries of both the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) to the tune of $32,038 in 2021, and the LJI for an undisclosed amount.
Before it even began in 2023, the Garcias and their TPR had already received the grant money in one lump sum from Canadian Heritage to compensate participants in LJI, in this case Ms. Ramos and another writer based in Edmonton, Alberta.
But lo and behold, their salaries never reached them on time! Hermie Garcia and Mila Garcia came up with false pretenses, such as a grant guy withholding payment pending submission of certain requirements, and that money, if ever it came, came in trickles. It's all fiction.
Why the Garcias lied to their staff writers, to Canadian Heritage, and to NEPMCC was never explained. The fraud had succeeded for months until Ms. Ramos, already fed up for working and not paid, sought answers from NEPMCC managing director Maria Saras Voutsinas.
That's when she learned she and the Edmonton writer were being lied to and deceived by the Garcias. Ms. Ramos filed a complaint with Canadian Heritage and NEPMCC detailing how she was gypped.
Their acts, Ms. Voutsinas told Ms. Ramos, were "technically criminal". And yet, the NEPMCC of which she is part, bestowed "certificates of awards" to the couple and therefore paid no attention to the Garcias' fraudulent conduct.
Hopefully, Rodel Ramos' assertion, the latest in years, about Hermie and Mila Garcia would open the eyes of NEPMCC and reconsider what it did for them. False heroes abound in the community and NEPMCC should not lend itself to propagating them. (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
