Volume 7, Issue No. 54
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 Thursday, June 18, 2026
~ Taste of Manila - the Filipino festival that stole copyrighted photos and videos then spliced and manipulated them to promote its officials, politicians and friends on social media - has now generated a family-owned business called Taste of Manila Inc. The street fest has apparently become a profitable venture, reason it's going places this summer, i.e., in Niagara Falls. Toronto's $34,000 money grant might have been a big boost to its coffers and possibly contributed in funding the event outside city limits. If true, such diversion would violate the city's community grant policy.
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TASTE OF MANILA 2026
Did Tax Dollars from Toronto
Help ToM to Go to Niagara?
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
TORONTO - Thirty-four thousand dollars of taxpayers' money had gone into the pockets of organizers of Taste of Manila (ToM) festival last year, an amount nobody knew how it was spent. Except perhaps its officials.
Only ToM and its secretive team of so-called "artists" and self-declared founder are in the know, not the thousands of revelers, vendors, sponsors, and fans from where it derives support.
But there's a hint ToM made money, probably tons of it - in fact it has generated a family-owned business venture called Taste of Manila Inc. (ToMI) - in addition to the $34K that the City of Toronto had so generously gave for its 2025 edition.
ToMI has three officers all surnamed Mangante, namely, Rolando alias Rolly alias Kabise, Nieves, and their daughter Roloves.
(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/09/who-benefitted-from-tom-2025-community.html).
To have qualified to receive $34K, ToM and its officials must have had convinced City authorities - or had lied to them - that they did not have the financial resources to undertake the festival in August 2025.
A freedom of information request I filed and paid for with the City in September 2025 had not been fully complied with as of this writing. In there, I asked that documents be unsealed on the reasons the City granted the money to ToM which, by all appearances, is awash with cash.
Social media posts by (scam?) "artists" belonging to the three-member Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation, and Community (SPARC) indicated that ToM is set to stage in Niagara Falls, a one-and-half hour drive southeast of Toronto, sometime in August. SPARC manages ToM for ToMI.
Either SPARC or ToMI, or both, must have sweet-talked some individuals or organizations to put up ToM there, otherwise the logistics alone of such a venture would be financially and physically tough for Toronto-based producers.
(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/10/how-did-taste-of-manila-spend-34k-in.html).
We have yet to see the impact of the $34K grant to the Filipino community and generally to North York where ToM holds its annual bash, and now, we're being beguiled to support a complementary ToM fest in Niagara, possibly at the market hall and cultural hub The Exchange.
Niagara region has a very small Filipino population, which could mean that ToM is targeting tourists visiting Niagara Falls. ToM's return on investments must really be bountiful, otherwise, why go to Niagara if not for the potential to gain more money?
According to SPARC, acting on behalf of Rolly "Kabise" Mangante, the self-declared ToM founder, it is "committed to advancing community development, cultural preservation, and economic inclusion within the Filipino-Canadian community."
(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/08/toronto-taxpayers-are-funding-taste-of.html).
Sounds impressive, all these blah blah blah found in its website. But what "development, cultural preservation" etc. have SPARC and ToM advanced other than promoting themselves and their families and friends?
Early on, Mangante, a former driver at the Philippine Consulate who relishes being teased as "amba" (ambassador) or mistaken for congen (consul general), made a promise to put up a community centre once ToM grows big. That was 12 years ago.
According to colleagues he had thrown under the bus, Mangante is the mastermind in stealing content from the Filipino Web Channel to publicize social climbers, including his wife and some friends. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ&t=18s).
Last month, I followed up my freedom of information request dated October 2025 and City authorities promptly informed me that, and I quote, "A decision on whether the records will be disclosed will be made by November 10, 2025."
Since then, seven months ago, nothing has been heard from them. (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).
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