Filipino Web Magazine : 2026

Wednesday, 15 July 2026

Balita Loses Appeal, Ordered to Pay Liwayway Miranda $0.5-M

Volume 8, Issue No. 2

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@aol.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America and Europe . . .

Our latest as of Wednesday, July 15, 2026

~ What essentially began as a social media catfight that had turned into a bitter squabble in court has come to an end with the losing party ordered to pay up nearly half-a-million dollars for defaming a Toronto businessperson. A decision has been rendered recently by a panel of three judges of the Court of Appeal for Ontario upholding a trial court judge's earlier decision in the defamation case and throwing out an appeal.

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LIWAYWAY MIRANDA'S SUIT V. TESS CUSIPAG UPHELD

Balita Loses Defamation Case; To Pay $0.5-Million in Damages

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses." — Heraclitus

TORONTO - The Court of Appeal for Ontario, the province's highest level of court, has rejected an appeal by Balita and its publisher Tess Cusipag to set aside a trial judge's decision finding them liable for defamation and awarding damages amounting to nearly half-a-million dollars to businesswoman Liwayway Miranda.

The decision reached by a panel of three judges puts an end to the acrimonious personal quarrel between the two women who, in age, are generations apart. More broadly, it could significantly impact the current practice of entertainment-oriented journalism in the Filipino community.

For Ms. Miranda, it's a triumph of justice, a further vindication that restores her dignity and reputation as an entrepreneur which, for the most part, had been soiled by false accusations instigated by envious competitors.

For Ms. Cusipag, it adds to an extraordinary record of recidivism consisting of costly court losses with one case resulting in her serving 13 days in jail for criminal contempt of court.

Ms. Miranda previously owned the Toronto-based A&L Hammer Workforce Management where she was CEO and president. It shuttered after six Filipino farmworkers who lied about their status, dishonestly accused her of human trafficking.

(Videos:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QprwiFQiLjs

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JSfIOTN0uk

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WONotKxTTWw

Ms. Cusipag, on the other hand, is publisher and self-named editor of Balita, a fortnightly tabloid circulated in Toronto, founded by her late husband, journalist Ruben Cusipag.

(Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NGQX-SucJ4).

Handed down in March this year, the judgment provides, among others:

"THIS COURT ORDERS that the defendants shall be permanently enjoined from, directly or indirectly, publishing and/or broadcasting, or encouraging or assisting others to publish or broadcast any statements about the plaintiff, in any manner whatsoever, which in their plain or ordinary meaning or by innuendo be similar to the defamatory statements made in the December 18, 2022 Balita article titled “BEWARE… Toronto scammers abound around us!” or the statements of the defendant, Teresita “Tess” Cusipag, on social media concerning the plaintiff." (italics mine).

The now-forbidden statement, first published in Balita in 2020 and republished in 2022, and then posted on Ms. Cusipag's Facebook account, is at the heart of Ms. Miranda's complaint filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

In April 2025, Superior Court Justice R. Lee Akazaki, expressing outrage at Ms. Cusipag's conduct, affirmed Ms. Miranda's defamation complaint, and awarded her general and punitive damages totalling $250,000, and costs of $100,000. The amount has since grown to almost $500,000 to include lawyer's fees of $125,000 and interest.

Ms. Cusipag, apparently stung by Justice Lee's decision, asked the Court of Appeal for Ontario to toss it. The panel of three justices - Lorne Sossin, Sally A. Gomery, and Peter J. Osborne - heard the appeal on March 12, 2026, and two weeks later, on March 30, 2026, rejected it and handed down their decision.

(Full text of decision: https://coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/item/24057/index.do).

Reached for comment, Ms. Miranda said her lawyers "will enforce the order/judgment soon." It has been three months since that decision was promulgated, but her money doesn't seem to be forthcoming.

She asks in Tagalog: "May pera ba sya o naghihirap na? Bakit ang yabang niya sa Facebook pero hindi naman ako mabayaran." (Loosely translated: "Does she have money or has gone bankrupt? Why is she so arrogant on Facebook but couldn't pay me.)

She adds: "I want to know bakit hanggang ngayon hindi nya ako binabayaran ganung panay ang post nya sa Facebook ng mansion nya, tour nya around the world at panay ang sponsor nya ng mga events." (Translation: I want to know why she hasn't paid me, yet she posts on Facebook her mansion, tours, and sponsorship of events.)

An attorney for Ms. Miranda previously said Ms. Cusipag and Balita are "repeat offenders" as they have shown, in the lawyer's words, "a consistent practice of publishing false allegations of fraud against reputable individuals."

In the annals of community journalism in Toronto, liability findings by courts of law of defamation by a tabloid publisher, especially because she's a self-declared editor without any training of background as a journalist, is quite rare.

Justice Akazaki took note of that in the decision finding Ms. Cusipag and Balita liable for defaming Ms. Miranda. (Full story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/search?q=judge+lee+akazaki).

"Apart from her evidence that she took over Balita from her husband," the judge noted, "Ms. Cusipag did not provide any evidence of any training or background in journalism."

According to him, "Balita misused its position as a popular publication in the Filipino community as a bully pulpit to inflict harm to Ms. Miranda’s reputation."

As it stands today, Ms. Cusipag has accumulated three losses out of five defamation suits (two were dismissed) against her and the paper, and one jail time (sentenced to 21 days and released after serving13 days) for criminal contempt of court.

Monetary damages in all the cases, including the latest one by Ms. Miranda, have now reached close to $1.5 million. That could severely impact her oft-repeated boast that she's a millionaire. (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved.)

Monday, 13 July 2026

FWM Enters Eighth Year of Service to the Community

Volume 8, Issue No. 1

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@aol.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America and Europe . . .

Our latest as of Monday, July 13, 2026

~ Keeping track of news developments relevant to the Filipino diaspora has been one thankless but rewarding job in the service of the community. The Filipino Web Magazine enters its eighth year undeterred by threats and criticisms expected of a news outlet that prioritizes exposing the ills, corruption and deceptive schemes victimizing our compatriots.

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FILIPINO WEB MAGAZINE

Online Mag Enters 8th Year

of Service to the Community

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"The press is not the enemy of the people. The press is the people's guarantee that they will know what is done in their name." — Ali Velshi

TORONTO - More than 400 articles over a span of seven years - that's roughly 57 articles per year or an average of four articles a month - embody the Filipino Web Magazine (FWM) as it turns another chapter in its self-supporting outreach to the community.

The online blog enters its eighth year serving the information needs of Filipinos in Canada, the United States, the Philippines, and some European countries, notably the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain.

Year after year after year, I mark FWM's birth on July 19, 2019 in much the same modest way I would the natal days of loved ones, close friends, and my other social media news channels.

Be they of individuals or of unemotional entities like corporations, birthdays are significant milestones worth remembering, at least, for what they've made of one self in a moment of time.

FWM's coming was forced by differences in principles, disparities in competence and honesty, and deep-seated beliefs, among them, strict adherence to the truth.

Truth is paramount in journalism. Any attempt to stifle it, as far I'm concerned, would violate a code of ethics journalists are duty-bound to uphold regardless of the cost to their professional and personal lives.

In my particular case, the cost of standing up for the truth was the close of a writing stint in Balita that had been rich in news, features, and investigative reporting but awfully lacking in decent compensation.

My work there was terminated through a brusque email in June 2019, and when it ended - happily for me - I felt being released from moronic stupor that had shrunk my brain.

Once out, I discovered that all through the years I had been writing for the paper, I had become an employee by operation of law, which meant entitlement to some employment benefits.

That morsel of truth was hidden from me. Only after Canada Revenue Agency conducted an audit of the publication did it surface. Everything due me as an employee was never redressed.

Far from whining, my point in mentioning the circumstances of FWM's birth was to show how grateful I am at the turn of events. Where else would I get a record 123,424 reads (as of this post) if I had stayed with a tabloid claiming a dubious 15,000 copies in circulation?

The moral compass I carry since I started a journalism career years back remains active and steadfast. I believe that's the reason readers flock to FWM and to my video news outlets under the banner of Romar Media Canada.

Until I joined Balita in January 2012 upon invitation by its late editor Ruben Cusipag, the tabloid never had the prestige of a dynamic community newspaper that went mainstream with its reporting when circumstances warranted.

That's because I harnessed my knowledge and experience in international reporting as a former foreign correspondent in the treatment of local news.

It's no empty boast, it's the truth. Soon as I left, it's gone back to its old self, excelling in its forte, which is entertainment, rumour-mongering, and mindless reporting of inconsequential events.

Take any copy of the paper from Filipino stores where it's dumped, and find out that what I'm saying is not an exaggeration. Its specialty writ large is there for everyone to see and read.

Says Ontario Superior Court Justice R. Lee Akazaki in a decision finding Tess Cusipag liable for defaming businesswoman Liwayway Miranda: "Apart from her evidence that she took over Balita from her husband, Ms. Cusipag did not provide any evidence of any training or background in journalism."

Whew! It stings. The incompetence is institutionalized in a court decision. And she calls herself editor!

My hasty departure from Balita did not end my journalistic pursuits to the absolute dismay of my detractors. Rather, it energized me to strive harder to uncover wrongdoing perpetrated by Filipinos on Filipinos.

Balita had exploited my unfamiliarity with Toronto's Filipino community when I came in from California in 2010. Per findings of an audit by Canada Revenue Agency, it had victimized me by withholding information that I was an employee. Sounds unbelievable but it's true.

That experience reminds me of another Filipino tabloid, The Philippine Reporter, whose husband-and-wife editors cheated two writers, lied about it, and even perpetrated a hoax for months to conceal the deception.

Saturday, 4 July 2026

America Is Still the America to Love

Volume 7, Issue No. 57

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Saturday, July 4, 2026

~ Our neighbour to the south is celebrating its founding 250 years ago. From that time on, America has emerged as the strongest, economically and militarily, democracy in the world. It's a country to love and nourish. For years, America was my home. It's still home for my siblings and their offspring. In America, I learned to be my own, to be a free and independent journalist. America gave birth to my community newspapers.

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BORN JULY 4, 1776

America at 250 Years Is

Still the America to Love

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"My roots are my strength, not my weakness." — Alex Eala

TORONTO - America is 250 years told today, July 4. For all of sixteen years, it had been my home. My parents and siblings and their offspring have grown their roots there.

Four generations of the family are inextricably linked to the "huddled masses" in Emma Lazarus' words, as are the millions of people from all over the world who see America as the beacon of freedom, hope, and opportunity.

Because of the politics these days, however, everything seems aspirational. No longer can we feel free and fearless because of our skin color, accent, and culture that betray our origins.

On September 11, 2005 on the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 Twin Towers attack by the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda, I had the pleasure of visiting Liberty Island where stands the Statue of Liberty while on a news coverage in New York City. (Related story: https://timecircumstance.blogspot.com/)

I had long wanted to see the statue, France's gift to the United States, which was erected in October 1886, or 110 years after America had declared independence from British rule on July 4, 1776.

Being there and seeing it with my own eyes was quite personal for me. I had adopted the statue's torch as the symbol of the community newspaper, the Diario Veritas, I had founded in San Diego, California in June 1998, to coincide with the 100th year of Philippine independence from Spain.

The torch, with its three rays of flame, may have appeared like another artwork, but its symbolism should not be lost to Filipinos the paper had endeavoured to serve. My perspective was that the flames represented the Philippines' main islands, i.e., Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Coupled with the torch was the advocacy I espoused then, and continue to follow up to this day in my news outlets: "Courage to say the truth." (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9vcuamfGCI).

At Liberty Island, I felt so overwhelmed by the inscription at the Statue of Liberty - the poem entitled The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. These lines are particularly poignant:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

When I moved to California in 1994 after decades of working as a foreign correspondent for two major international news agencies, it wasn't so much as to breathe free as to find new opportunities.

Throughout my journalism career till the mid-90s I worked as an employee, handsomely-paid but answerable to higher authorities. In the US, that trajectory changed on my own accord. I was free and independent of corporate rules. I decided the future of my own newspaper.

The challenges were stimulating, and so were the prospects for a newspaper I founded, managed, and edited. In that respect, America was a country to love, for it nurtured me to be my own man.

Three community newspapers came out of that fostering environment that America had provided me in those days. Though none made money, my effort was a priceless venture I could dream of only in America. The success lied in opening minds, in enhancing understanding.

Reaching out to the community was inspiring in many ways. There were hurdles in the pursuit of an idea, true, but the goodwill it created had lasted for years until I moved to Toronto in 2010 for more opportunities.