Volume 8, Issue No. 7
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 . . . .
Our latest as of Monday, August 10, 2026
~ Beneath the boisterous celebration typical of street festivals, the Taste of Manila (ToM) has a dark side not many people notice. Its officials betrayed colleagues that triggered a $1.5-million lawsuit. They stole photos and video footages and manipulated them to raise the profiles of family and friends. They also tried to extort money from uncooperative vendors. Amidst this backdrop, reports say ToM is up for grabs. And this month, ToM is up and running again. What's the deal now?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IS TASTE OF MANILA, THE CASH COW, FOR SALE?
Wrongdoings Cast a Shadow
on 2026 ToM Street Festival
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them." - Confucius
TORONTO - Sometime this month, the Taste of Manila (ToM) festival is staged again. Beneath its rosy outlook lurks a string of wrongdoings on the margins of criminal activity.
Outright stealing, explicit extortion, literal betrayals, and accounts of alleged scams by its top officials are shielded to favour a wholesome presentation for unmindful patrons.
Now comes this unconfirmed report that ToM is being sold at a whopping $800,000. Sources claimed officials are shopping for buyers.
One reason bandied about is its self-declared founder, the former driver Rolly Mangante, wants to liquefy his "asset" while the festival still enjoys public support and then retire in comfort.
It could not be determined if the purported sale is linked to a $1.5-million lawsuit filed in 2023 by International Entertainment Company (IEC) against Mangante and Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community (SPARC), his current agent.
Whether this suit, titled CV-22-00691063 at the Superior Court of Justice, has been settled or not remains vague. Neither party would clarify its status.
In December 2022, IEC announced the lawsuit after Mangante contracted SPARC to run ToM for the next three years starting in 2024 despite an existing contract between IEC and Mangante.
The infighting is one of the consequential episodes in the life of ToM. It demonstrates betrayal, and the length Mangante would go to better his standing in the community.
(Related videos:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGVqgszwyYA starting at 4:11 mark).
Prior to ToM fest in 2023, IEC and ToM agreed to collaborate in the matter of marketing and booth sales. That agreement, however, made no mention of the $1.5-million lawsuit. Whether it is part of a settlement is not clear, either.
One extraordinary incident that upset patrons was the installation in August 2024 of a steel fence blocking access to stores and vendors who refused to pay toll to ToM.
Organizers billed it as a "donation" to disguise a shakedown, a real attempt to extort money, from onsite vendors along Bathurst St., a few meters from the main stage for the ToM program. (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btf2yoU4AaE).
Related video:
2. Additional story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/08/taste-of-manila-fences-off-joints-that.html
ToM officials have consistently avoided any discussion of financial issues that could jeopardize the yearly fair. A mass walkout of sponsors is not impossible if ToM acknowledged misdeeds as they are publicly recorded in social media.
As the journalist who recorded its birth in 2014 and rise through the years, and hopefully, not its downfall, I knew how the people, notably the former driver who had named himself founder, and some of his acolytes, created a social media myth that thrived up to now.
Celebrated these days as ToM's inventor, Rolly Mangante is one factotum who dresses (or overdresses) to impress, presumably to mask the nature of his job at the Philippine Consulate at that time.
True enough, his appearance almost always results in him being mistaken by newcomers for the consul general, and in a mocking way, as ambassador. The moment he speaks, the whole impression vanishes.
Mangante was so enamored by one writer who referred to his wife Nieves Mangante as "first lady of ToM" perhaps owing to her marriage and not to anything related to the festival. (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ).
So in 2019, in collaboration with his lackeys, Mangante pilfered photos and videos from the Filipino Web Channel, manipulated them and inserted pictures of his wife, friends, and politicians.
I personally consider that the unkindest cut of all. They never acknowledged the steal, never said thank you, never apologized, and never paid a dime even as asking them to pay was the last thing on my mind. (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXqjO8AWUJ4).
To me, every year of ToM's staging is a contemptible reminder of how so-called community leaders could be so corrupt as to engage in illicit activities, including exploiting the very people who patronize the festival that rewards them with tons of money.
Organizers must have made a windfall from stolen intellectual properties used to promote themselves and their friends in high places. It makes me wonder why the City of Toronto granted them $34,000 in 2025. (Full story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/10/how-did-taste-of-manila-spend-34k-in.html).
After initially responding to my freedom of information request, the City clammed up when confronted with basic questions, e.g. , why was so much taxpayers money given to ToM just like that? What benefits did the City derive from ToM as to deserve such funding? Why did the City fund a private company owned by Rolly Mangante's family?
This month ToM is on again not so much to highlight the culture with its foolish programming but to perpetuate the dumbing down of the community seemingly content with toilet humour and the like. (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).
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