Toronto Pianist Sparks Renewed Interest in Music

Volume 5, Issue No. 16

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Romar Media Canada, 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 Tuesday, November 7, 2023 

~ Interest in Philippine music and non-Filipino compositions has heightened these past weeks, much of it ignited by a musically-inclined accountant whose spontaneity resonated with friends who joined her in what might as well be a public performance. Captured on film, the spur-of-the-moment feat drove the number of views at Filipino Web Entertainment Channel to hitherto surprising millions. 

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FILIPINO WEB ENTERTAINMENT CHANNEL

Pianist Rekindles Love for Music 

The Piano-Playing Sets Off Upsurge of Views

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Music is powerful. As people listen to it, they can be affected. They respond.” - Ray Charles

TORONTO - My first-ever foray into the entertainment world got a major boost this past weekend.

I don't mean that as a celebrity whose lustre shines on everyone, nor as a rival to the eloquent chronicler of the stars, the incomparable writer Baby K. Jimenez, my human window to Philippine filmdom.

Without formal affiliation with legacy broadcast, print and online media, I turn to writing investigative pieces, news analysis, and feature articles for my Filipino Web Magazine blog.

As a journalist trying to keep up with advances in social media technology, I created several online platforms under Romar Media Canada, the umbrella news outfit that carries my name. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42YXRLqaQYA).

One of these is Filipino Web Entertainment Channel, the YouTube-based outlet that I launched on September 6, 2011 soon after I noticed an absence of a site devoted mainly to local talents.

Twelve years and two months later, FilWebEntertainment notched quite a record: generating more than two million views, to be exact - 2,000,337 - as of this writing. It's an incredibly endearing development considering that it's a local community endeavour.

The huge number came from watching 567 videos I created from my own coverage of events spanning over a decade of sacrifice, personally and financially; and of reaching out, having a lot of patience and maintaining a high level of tolerance.

My subscribers here totaling 3,042, and perhaps their families and friends too, are to be commended for their commitment, not so much to the brand but for what it espouses, which is the uplift of our community of artists and talents needing public exposure.

That has always been the goal of Romar Media Canada and its online platforms, namely, The Filipino Web Channel, Currents & Breaking News Channel (538 videos; 1,761,419 views; 2.13K subscribers), Eats & Restos Channel (88 videos; 369,821 views; 775 subscribers), and Filipino Web Entertainment Channel, among others.

For me it's a milestone worth a celebratory article such as this one. With 2,000,337 views up its sleeve, FilWebEntertainment comes close to my flagship The Filipino Web Channel which has currently 3,079,311 views (from 1,400 videos) since its founding on November 15, 2010.

Garnering that number is a watershed moment for my entertainment channel. The years of non-stop coverage have proved fruitful in so many ways, but most importantly, in training the spotlight on talents yet to bloom.

I have absolutely no doubt that public interest has been rekindled by the musically-inclined accountant Cielo Ramos who is as much of an artist as her daughter Michelle Chermaine. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FT2kEZfls).

During the height of the pandemic a wide gap existed between in-person performances and virtual presentations, but Mrs. Ramos innocently broke that interlude by spontaneously playing the piano at the annual exhibition of the Philippine Artists Group on June 24. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/pags-art-exhibit-celebration-of.html).

Videos of Cielo Ramos at: 

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74OZCliSBEU

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqfFzi5xZHA

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1mIkCrFsk4

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hc6qAcr708

Her spur-of-the-moment move has attracted new viewers and revitalized the channel which made possible the climb to the two-million mark of the number of views. For that, I'm sincerely grateful.

Of particular significance to me is the sudden upsurge in views of marquee artists featured in the channel such as Rico J. Puno, Pilita Corrales, Rey Valera, Imelda Papin, Mon Torralba, Joey Albert, Florante, Angeline Quinto, David Pomeranz, Martin Nievera, to name a few.

I also notice a rise in views of our Toronto-based artists who performed in community events, notably, Eleanor Calbes, Ma-anne Dionisio, Josie de Leon, Jennifer Uy, Chyrell Samson, Chiqui Pineda, Rodney Ronquillo, Emilio Zarris, Arlene Paculan, among others.

Then there's the inimitable Fiesta Filipina Dance Troupe, a big star on its own, amassing tens of thousands of views. 

These artists enjoy tremendous public patronage. But the hunger for talents who live, work, and perform in Toronto is very much evident. Just take a look at what Cielo Ramos did a few months ago. 

Unconsciously, she re-ignited a residual flame among us that refreshes our love for music. The proof is there in FilWebEntertainment - 2,000,337 views and counting! (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).

The Conundrum of Living in Canada

Volume 5, Issue No. 15

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Romar Media Canada, 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 Sunday, November 5, 2023 

~ Daylight Savings Time is again temporarily shelved as of today, signaling the end of the glorious Spring and Summer months and pave the way, in mid-Fall, for the arrival of Winter. So we're back to normal, normal in the sense that the rhythm of our body clock would not be upset. Does DST do good or bad? Well, the debate continues and there's no end in sight. 

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DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME TAKES A BACKSEAT

Reclaiming An Hour to Prepare for Winter 

The Conundrum of Living in Canada

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” - John Steinbeck

TORONTO - Today, Sunday, we're back to standard time as we transition from Daylight Savings Time (DST) which had been in effect since the second Sunday of March.

We reclaim one hour of our time we gave to the advent of Spring and Summer months - the joyous moments of the year devoted to feasts and celebrations of all kinds.

Certain organizers of community events must now be feasting on the bounties their activities brought them. So much social media hype coupled with untruths plus continuous reechoing of their purported goals proved fruitful, money-wise, and we are the losers for it.

It's still Fall, a good 46 days to Winter, and the changing temperatures from warm to cold to chilly during the day and night herald the inevitability of its coming. Again, it's time to bulk up.

Fall or Autumn here in Canada is so magical, especially for those of us who were born to the spectre of destructive earthquakes and volcanoes, suffocating heat, devastating typhoons and floods.

Faced with these predicaments, we dream of . . . enchanted days in the land of plenty, of white Christmases, of red-nosed reindeers, of unimaginable gifts, of abundant food on the table, of many things we could think of.

Nobody is to blame. Nature has endowed the Philippines with such peculiarity being in the Pacific Ring of Fire where 90 percent of earthquakes occur. As such, we live with danger and know how to survive.

While we may be able to escape these dire conditions in the homeland and move to Canada or the United States, we're still susceptible to another northern phenomenon - the bitter, bone-chilling, sub-zero weather and the snow.

The curiosity borne out of our eastern upbringing steers us to imbibe the western way of life. For examples, we delight in witnessing the changing season, especially from Fall to Winter with the magnificent Fall colours. We frolic in the snow. We dress up like never before.

The situation in this part of Canada seems to even out the nature of things. Regardless of the oppressive heat, we run off to our birth country to elude the harsh winter here and thus make ourselves snowbirds.

Our tourism industry with the support of the government has in fact capitalized on it with its Winter Escapade series, now on its eighth season starting in February 2024. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUyCwdLh65A). 

With DST deactivated, we regain an hour, perhaps to catch up with our sleep, or do indoor chores that we have set aside temporarily in favour of outdoor activities.

In my case, reading is a favorite indulgence. These past seasons I have accumulated dozens of non-fiction books at no small cost. It's the kind of self-study that I engage in to broaden my knowledge which I'd like to share with my readers. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).

Little Manila: Seasonal Hub of Community Events

Volume 5, Issue No. 14

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

BATHURST-WILSON JUNCTION

The Face, Smell and Taste of Manila in Canada 

It's the Hub That Gave Birth to Little Manila

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Nothing ever becomes real 'til it is experienced.” - John Keats

TORONTO - The face of Manila is literally on our faces. Not the physical face, but the metaphorical face. 

Certainly not the face, in the words of poet and novelist Miles Gibson, "that resembled a diseased cauliflower" nor of author Dorothy Canfield Fisher's "face . . . clean as a china plate".

The true face of Manila lies in between Gibson's and Fisher's lyrical description. Where to find its likeness is really not difficult as it is accessible by foot, bicycle, bus, subway train, and private vehicles.

I take the five-kilometre walk to and fro the area once I feel a craving for my favourite pancit at Sampaguita Village resto on Wilson Ave. There, I could finish an order of a medium-size plate of this noodle and try to lose the carbs by walking back home.

Eating pancit is a habit I couldn't shake off from my routine, a pleasant reminder of the time I was a foreign correspondent covering Malacanang Palace during the last few months of the presidencies of Ferdinand Marcos, the whole term of Cory Aquino, and later, the early months of Fidel Ramos.

To think about it now is to go back in time through the youthful and fruitful years as a journalist witnessing the unfolding of those troubled moments of Philippine history under three presidents.

The communist insurgency, the separatist movement in the South, the imposition of martial law, and his overthrow - those are defining periods of Marcos' rule. Then there's the short-lived revolutionary government of Cory Aquino and the endless coups that followed. After her, Fidel Ramos succeeded in stabilizing the country.

Before I would take the jeepney ride from Arlegui St. below the Quezon Bridge to San Miguel district where Malacanang is located, I would impulsively go to Chonam, my favorite Chinese restaurant near the foot of the pedestrian bridge on Raon St.

I was hoping to eat there again when I visited Manila in 2015 and in early 2018, but to my disappointment, I could not find it even behind the hundreds of sidewalk vendors blocking main storefronts. 

I then went to my second favourite, the austere and unadorned Ma Mon Luk, for the mami-and-siopao combination it's famous for. It was another quick glance at history, I thought. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Pod8-RJTE).

Well, back to Toronto. The Filipino stores that congregate along Wilson Ave. and  Bathurst St. somehow give the area an air, smell, and flavour of Manila. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc6xyf46sek).

The junction they form is the core of Little Manila, the enclave sensationalized by Filipino businesses to identify a melting pot of different Filipino tribes who work and live in that part of the city.

The geographic boundaries of Little Manila are not well-defined, perhaps because it's officially non-existent politically and legally. It comes alive only during summer and reverts back to its dormant state the rest of the year.

(Videos at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsJFlnNerVA, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eACkDCFUVwY, and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2fI0c11aO0).

Even as it recedes to memory, there's a growing Filipino presence that could be seen within a half-kilometre radius (from Bathurst-Wilson junction) along Bathurst to Invernay Ave. to the north, and to Joicey Blvd. to the south; and (again from Bathurst-Wilson junction) along Wilson Ave. to Laurentia Crest to the west. Wilson Ave. eastward is mostly residential.

Outside of the perimeter further north of the intersection is Earl Bales Park at Raoul Wallenberg Rd. where stands a bust of Philippine national hero Jose Rizal. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOmxsqK801Y).

Little Manila is quite an apt description as the expanse mimics Manila, the Philippine capital, and its idiosyncrasies, warts and all. 

Philippine Ambassador Leslie Gatan christened the area Little Manila in recognition of the nascent Taste of Manila street festival in August 2014. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcZa99xeGW0).

The elements that make Manila what it is are there, except one - a house of worship. The Catholic church nearest Little Manila is the Our Lady of the Assumption (or OLA to Filipino faithfuls) Church 3.5 kilometres away south on Bathurst St. 

On weekends, the church is filled with Filipino devotees. Taking buses that ply the road to the church is like being in downtown Quiapo - full of chitchats and loud phone conversations in different Philippine dialects. 

It's this area in Toronto where one doesn't get a real feel of being outside the Philippines. It's practically the homeland transformed by the fall colours and the winter snow.

If loiterers (or "tambays" in Tagalog slang) in Manila could be found in street corners and neighbourhood stores, here in Toronto they're in coffee shops gulping down cup after cup of the beverage.

In fact, a Starbucks store had to close shop because of the pestering problem of "tambays" who stayed the whole day there on a medium-size cup of coffee, thus depriving other customers of seats and tables. The rising cost of its lease had worsened the situation.

Like its counterpart half a globe away, Little Manila is less a marketplace of ideas than a centre of gossip, a flesh market, some say; a haven for scammers, a dumping ground for the Filipino supermarket tabloids and a flea market all rolled into one. 

The story goes that non-Filipino males frequently scout the area for lonely women, some of them Filipino caregivers seeking companionship or overnight or weekend trysts. The coffee shop that shut down apparently didn't want to be typecast as a pickup point in North York.

Blemishes there may be, but Little Manila abounds with Filipinos forever trying to make ends meet. And these are the ambulant men and women who sell fruits and vegetables hidden in gym bags and worn-out pieces of luggage. Some grow them in backyards, some buy wholesale from farms and resold for a small profit. 

The money these sidewalk vendors earn goes toward food on the table, tuition fees, personal upkeep, and financial help for relatives in the Philippines. Remitting money saved from their unlicensed trade helps keep their families, and the homeland too, afloat.

While the Taste of Manila street festival has given birth to Little Manila, that particular quarter, in turn, puts the spotlight on the reality of the face of Manila. 

Certainly, the face, warts and all, of Manila in Canada is Toronto's Little Manila. A caveat though. Not all Filipinos one might encounter there are working hard, many are hardly working. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).

Canadian Heritage Acts on Funding Local Journalism Initiative

Volume 5, Issue No. 13

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Romar Media Canada, 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 Monday, October 16, 2023 

~ Repeated requests for comments have gone nowhere in understanding the issues of why the community's left-leaning tabloid had tried to stiff two of its writers. Its enablers in the ethnic press association, in the federal agency providing funding, and in the local rare book library, appear to have succumbed to a deafening silence, thus leaving a well-documented complaint dangling and unaddressed. The tabloid has a new hire ostensibly to pick up from the void left by the resignation of the reporters victimized by their editors.

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SCAM IN LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE?

A Deafening Silence to Conceal the Truth 

Tabloid Has New Hire Amidst Unaddressed Issues

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie". 

- Yevgeny Yevtushenko

TORONTO - Four long months to the day on Friday the 13th of October and there's not a whiff of information from the usual garrulous fount of idle talk in the Filipino community.

So deafening is the silence to the point it seems to have also afflicted media advocates in such an organization as the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) whose self-ordained mandate is "to seek and publish the truth, defend free speech and the right to equal treatment under law . . . "

In June, the artist and journalist Michelle Chermaine Ramos (video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FT2kEZfls) bared how she and another writer were duped by their principals at The Philippine Reporter (TPR), the left-leaning tabloid owned and edited by the husband and wife tandem of Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia.

(Background: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-black-propagandist-in-our-midst.html).

Ms. Ramos, a staff reporter; and the other writer, a member of the youth group Anakbayan who wrote as an intern, were reporting under the auspices of the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI), an undertaking by Canadian Heritage, which invested $50 million, to support journalism in underserved communities.

Locally, LJI is managed by NEPMCC where TPR and the Garcia couple are members. In 2021, TPR got $32,038 under the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) and an undetermined amount under LJI. For hiring reporters to write LJI-suggested stories, TPR was allocated a lump sum, paid in advance of the period to be covered.

Although the Garcias had the full budget on hand, the salaries of Ms. Ramos and the intern were withheld for months lasting nearly a year. Hermie Garcia blamed the purported delay on Canadian Heritage, specifically on somebody there he called as the "guy in charge of disbursements".

As Ms. Ramos found out later, Hermie Garcia's explanation was a fabrication. The alleged waiting period to get paid for their LJI-related work and the "guy" supposedly handling the monies were all his concoction. 

Prior to her uncovering the dubious scheme, his initial clarifications justifying the slack were not convincing enough because she knew it was the federal government through Canadian Heritage via NEPMCC that was funding LJI.

Her inquiries led her to Maria Voutsinas, a member of NEPMCC's executive board and its managing director, who explained that Hermie Garcia's so-called "grant guy" did not exist and that TPR had been given the full one-year grant money for salaries of the two LJI reporters.

From Ms. Voutsinas' assertion, it was clear Hermie Garcia's claims were untrue. It's evident too that Ms. Ramos and the intern had been deceived, lied to, used, and blamed (in the case of the intern). 

His fantastic tales lasted for months and the reasons why he did it are still unexplained to this day. Why the silence?

(Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/lies-deceptions-by-philippine-reporter.html).

Hermie Garcia was probably banking on the idea that none of the two writers (Ms. Ramos and the intern) would pull the plug on him, perhaps knowing many Filipinos are too timid to fight for their rights, or at the least, speak up against wrongdoing.

One outstanding question needing answers is why Hermie Garcia held the money, deceived people, manufactured lies, blamed federal officials, and made fools of Ms. Ramos and the intern? 

Another poser is his attempt to cover up. Why? Why did he keep the monies for as long as he could and released only after the NEPMCC chided him? What would have happened to the monies intended for the LJI reporters if he wasn't caught lying by Ms. Ramos?

The latest edition of TPR tells some new developments related to Ms. Ramos' complaint. On its website, it published on October 6 a story bylined by a Sophia de Guzman about the 51st anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines.

The writer's lack of background about the homeland is quite obvious in the story. According to a profile in one of the periodicals she writes for, her roots are in California and British Columbia. Apparently she's in Toronto finishing journalism studies.

Her LinkedIn profile - the full name there is Sophia de Guzman Rivadeiro - shows she was contracted by TPR in August as a part-timer with the title LJI Reporter.

For months that designation was attached to Ms. Ramos' name, then to two others in TPR. It was gone for some time, then emerged again and now appended to Sophia de Guzman.

That indicates to me a falling-out within TPR and NEPMCC, possibly triggered by Ms. Ramos' unmasking of Hermie Garcia in June, which then prompted Canadian Heritage to take a hard look at LJI and how it is being managed.

Even as her exposé was published, NEPMCC president Thomas Saras announced in June and July that "members who were qualified for the LJI will be receiving cheques soon". 

In August, he said, and I quote him, "we will be going through all outstanding LJI applications shortly and new applications will be accepted".

In all the meetings NEPMCC had in June, July, and August - which actually coincided with the publication (the list of articles below) of Ms. Ramos' complaint in the online Filipino Web Magazine - the non-profit organization never mentioned anything about Hermie Garcia and what he did with the monies intended for Ms. Ramos and the intern.

1. Lies, Deception by The Philippine Reporter Exposed:

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/lies-deceptions-by-philippine-reporter.html

2. Hermie and Mila Garcia: Freedom Fights or Traitors:

 https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/05/hermie-and-mila-garcia-freedom-fighters.html

3. Reputation of Ethnic Media Takes a Hit in Reporters' Complaint:

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/reputation-of-ethnic-media-takes-hit-in.html

4. A Reflection of Life and Times That Escaped Notice:

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-reflection-of-life-and-times-that.html

5. Did Rare Book Library Make a Mistake in Archiving TPR:

https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/09/did-rare-book-library-make-mistake-in.html

A hint that something unfavourable was happening in NEPMCC has emerged in September during its monthly meeting. There, Saras disclosed that the "LJI program was on hold due to the delay by the ministry of Canadian Heritage".

Has the federal government finally taken notice of Ms. Ramos' complaint? I hope so. 

Meanwhile, my request for an interview with Sophia de Guzman through one of her gigs has not been answered as of this writing. I worry that she might end up like Ms. Ramos and the intern - deceived, lied to, used, and blamed. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).