Filipino Web Magazine

Friday, 4 December 2020

Good Riddance Periodico!

Volume 2, Issue No. 42

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 Friday, December 4, 2020

~ What had started as a noble venture to expose the ills in the community had been turned into a weapon for personal vendetta by people behind the ill-fated Periodico tabloid. Over the course of several months, it could not sustain its yellow journalism and its printing, and consequently, its blistering word war with another tabloid. Its financial and advertising lifeline took a beating soon after its true motives came into view. No decent writer would want to be associated with it. Despite the avowed claims, no proof existed to say it's trustworthy, or that its publishers possess the knowledge and integrity to be an advocate for good because they themselves are wrapped in questionable undertakings.

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AN END TO PERSONAL VENDETTA?

Filipino Tabloid in Toronto Shuts Down

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it." - Alan Moore

TORONTO - The demise finally came, inevitably, without a whimper, and when it occurred this week, it signaled the end of the indiscriminate deception perpetrated on the community by a sneaky husband-and-wife team and their acolytes.

They almost succeeded in their false pretenses by foisting a public image through media of caring advocates for truth and transparency. Yet what looms in their circumstances is the exact opposite. There are some good, mostly bad, and truly ugly things about them.

Periodico, the tabloid whose first print issue I had helped put out, had to be stopped, if not totally eliminated, for unsound and illicit practices it committed right after it had a taste of what it wrongly perceived as a power to demonize, harass, pressure, and bully people its publishers had identified as enemies.

In fact, one cowardly wannabe writer, in an act that could only be construed as bootlicking, launched his unfounded tirades against persons he hardly knew and clothed himself in a pseudonym in the belief it would shield him from counter-attacks. His "facts" and plain stupidity outed him in no time. He failed miserably.

(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/10/periodico-rogue-tabloid-in-torontos.html. Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7JWqL2AUDc).

As those people habitually did, they stole content from unknowing publications in much the same manner its secretive publishers allegedly victimized gullible individuals in the Philippines and Canada with their money and savings on the pretext of helping them.

The tabloid had only two print issues - the first one in March that I was conned into joining as editor-in-chief, a decision I regret to this day, and which I severed after, and the second six months later in September where it carried all my articles without my knowledge and consent.

Not content with that piracy, Periodico was also running an online edition that also published stories and photos purloined from my web-based Currents & Breaking News, and the Filipino Web Magazine. It was only by chance that I learned about it. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/).

From what I had been led to believe when they invited me in January, Naomi Ong and her husband Roxlee Ong, are the owners and publishers of the print and online edition of Periodico. However, nowhere is this circumstance publicly admitted, and the emerging reason is that the couple is in hiding from furious creditors.

Naomi and Roxlee Ong bear a grudge against Balita, the photo album tabloid, and its publisher Teresita Cusipag, for spreading alleged scandals involving certain individuals the couple had reportedly swindled. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/01/who-in-toronto-is-real-swindler.html).

The allegations, apparently sourced from a dubious "Dr." so-called, and a paralegal once suspended for professional misconduct by the Law Society Tribunal, an independent adjudicative body within the Law Society of Ontario, are published in Balita with photos stolen by Balita from my online postings.

The story about the Ongs as published in Balita is largely based on supposedly personal accounts of quarreling individuals collected from Facebook postings and storified by ghostwriters hired by Balita. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/10/online-and-in-print-periodico-shows-web.html).

Neither Periodico and Ong nor Balita, Cusipag, and her "news" sources are blameless. Each portrays the other as wicked, with the accuser feeling virtuous in the smear attempt. Both take the moral high ground in their dispute.

And so, the enmity had its roots from the angry back and forth on Facebook. As the protagonists traded vitriol after vitriol, their respective supporters and friends also fought on their own. Soon the social media platform has turned into a battleground for half-truths and wild accusations.

But the highlight of this episode is not so much the mudslinging as the last gasp of Periodico. It's the endgame for this still-born tabloid.

Periodico's latest online edition published what might as well be its obituary, as follows: "We will resume in 2021 after the lockdown. Periodico halted newsprint circulation after the announcement of lockdown in Toronto and Peel Region in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in Ontario."

Monday, 30 November 2020

Filipino Centre Toronto's 'Dirty Underwear' Takes Spotlight

Volume 2, Issue No. 41

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Monday, November 30, 2020

~ The rotten smell would not go away easily and the people who feel offended by the stink, or what seems like a dreadful stench, would not give up either. Patience and determination are admirable qualities whistleblowers have and those are the only means, excepting a legal remedy, available to them to get to the bottom of Filipino Centre Toronto's obstinacy to submit to a public accounting of big chunks of money. FCT officials have a responsibility to fulfill to the community and to its funders and political supporters.

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DEAFENING SILENCE AMIDST COVID PANDEMIC

Is FCT Laundering or 'Wearing Dirty Underwear'?

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"You can't possibly conduct a proper affair without a lot of deliberating, scheming, speculating, and conniving. It's a delicate balance where the excitement must equal the guilt . . . " - John Dufresne

TORONTO - "Baka nagtututong na yan, palitan na," my dear departed mother would tell the boys in the family whenever the time came to bathe. The meaning of her caustic remarks was not lost on our young mischievous selves then; she was actually commanding us to change for clean jockeys once done washing.

Nagtututong derives from the root word tutong (or scorched), the literal meaning of which is the burnt portion of the rice at the bottom of the pot. So, to say something is nagtututong, figuratively, is to say it's soiled, that dirt has accumulated and calcified. The word is a common metaphor in Cavite, the province from which my parents hailed.

I recall those trifling moments when we were in grade school many years ago. But now, the interaction my brothers and I have had with our mother finds currency in what I just read from two Filipino tabloids that carried the same commentary headlined "FCT Board Needs to Stop Wearing Dirty Underwear".

The big question that quickly came to mind was "how long have they been 'wearing dirty underwear'?" It sounds gross, but of course, I know the writer was making use of a figure of speech to get his message across.

Towards the end of his essay, the meaning clearly emerges. Says the author: "The situation in FCT is like a well-dressed person who wears the same underwear for a week. Beauty shines on the outside, but anybody can imagine what's rancid underneath".

My gosh, I hate to visualize it in terms my mother would describe to us boys: "Baka nagtututong na yan . . . " Well, in our youth we had the good sense of complying with her order. No question, no ifs, no buts. We would not wear dirty underwear a day longer, period.

The putrid smell of anything is repulsive. Briefs, underwear, boxer shorts, jockeys, undies, etc. could be washed clean. But to apply the phrase "wearing dirty underwear" to hint at skulduggery involving vast amounts of money is truly illustrative of an evolving scandal.

I had this persistent hunch that the coronavirus has descended on FCT (Filipino Centre Toronto). To clarify, that suspicion is purely speculative, unscientific, and ineffectual. I hope it may turn out to be completely unfounded. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDQoagXLlQ).

I tried to brush up a bit on the symptoms of the coronavirus infection.

One is the loss of smell, which probably explains why the FCT Board does not notice that the underwear they're wearing is foul-smelling, or in the language of my mother, nagtututong na. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZFXKzvQqYY).

Another symptom is the loss of speech or movement.

For the last three years predating the arrival of the coronavirus, the FCT Board has been mute and immobile. I don't know if this situation is feigned or a consequence of tardiness while enjoying life sitting on piles of money. It seems, however, that both speech and movement are impaired.

These could be the very plausible reason for the FCT Board's refusal/hesitance/inability to act on the petition of its members for transparency in the disbursement of funds. They demand - to no avail - an explanation on how four individuals and two establishments had been remunerated for their monetary claims totaling $678,000.

Why would the FCT Board not identify officially the recipients of the money, preferring instead to assign them initials and nicknames only? Why the hush?

And the beneficiaries are, according to documents obtained by this reporter early on, "Vicki", "RCJ", "Felino", "CRA", "Wendy" and "S and J Mechanicals". The amounts paid to them are as follows: "Vicki" - $300,000; "RCJ" - $96,000; "Felino" - $122,000; "CRA" - $122,000; "Wendy" - $30,000; and "S and J Mechanicals" - $8,000.

Whatever it is, only reinforces my gut-feel that the FCT Board is COVID-afflicted. Board members could also be drowning in the hailstorm of millions of monies that poured from the $5.9-million sale of its old building on Parliament Street in downtown Toronto. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/06/fct-members-renew-demand-for.html).

Still another symptom is difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.

I am not a physician nor somebody with a questionable "Dr." affixed to my name, but I could sense the FCT Board's difficulty breathing when confronted face to face. Based on my personal experience, board members are frightened by the prospect of being exposed in public. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5YUCP0xqlQ).

So, what's left of the community to do? Do FCT funders and political supporters know what's going on?

Obscene as it is, the hyperbolic use of "dirty underwear" being worn by the FCT Board is an all-encompassing description to show how egregious the state of affairs is in that organization. It's more graphic and pointed than dirty laundry. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Saturday, 28 November 2020

Philippines Relaxes Travel Rules

Volume 2, Issue No. 40

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Saturday, November 28, 2020

~ Starting December 7, Filipino citizens, their foreign spouses, and their children regardless of age can now visit the Philippines even without a visa on condition they comply with certain regulations related to controlling the spread of the coronavirus. The easing of travel restrictions is expected to facilitate family reunions especially during the Christmas season.

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MANILA EASES TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

Pinoys, Their Foreign Spouses Can Now Visit the Philippines

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

TORONTO - The Philippine government is easing travel restrictions to the country to allow former Filipino citizens, including their spouses and children visa-free entry under certain health conditions, starting December 7, 2020, the presidential press office has announced in Manila.

Foreign spouses and children of Filipino citizens are also permitted to come in, according to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), which is overseeing the program in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Since March, foreign nationals, with few exceptions, are banned from traveling to the Philippines.

Under the agency's guidelines, travelers are required a pre-booked quarantine facility and a pre-booked COVID-19 testing at a laboratory operating at the airport. They, too, must be subject to the maximum capacity of inbound passengers at the port and date of entry.

The Philippines has currently 428,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Deaths from the disease it brings (COVID-19) are listed at 8,333. Among countries in Southeast Asia, the Philippines has the second-highest (after Indonesia) number of COVID-19 cases.

The IATF has directed the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Tourism to formulate and issue guidelines to ensure the smooth implementation of the policy.

In a press statement to the government-owned news agency, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the IATF move was a welcome development for the travel industry, which was among the industries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic following suspensions in international flights.

“This not only bodes well for our ailing industry but is good tidings for our kababayans who have been clamoring to be reunited with their loved ones from abroad, especially this yuletide season,” she said.

Balikbayans or former Filipino citizens are considered as a viable source market to the country's tourism sector, particularly the second and third generation dependents who have yet to discover their parents’ roots.

"The Filipino diaspora to date has reached about 10 million. That is why we deem important the Filipino communities abroad as staunch partners in driving visitors to the Philippines,” she explained. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Sunday, 15 November 2020

Ten Years of Free and Unencumbered Journalism in Toronto

Volume 2, Issue No. 39

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Sunday, November 15, 2020

~ A decade of service to the community is not to be passed without remembering the hard work and struggle to keep the flame of journalism alive. On this day 10 years ago, The Filipino Web Channel came to be in Toronto as an advocate for transparency and change. Quite disappointingly, very little has changed, if at all. The stories of fraudulent conduct, ripoffs, manipulation, etcetera, are very much unconquered by the light of knowledge and bare facts. Still, the commitment is unaltered.

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JOURNALISM MEANS WINNING FRIENDS AND LOSING SOME

A Decade of Service to the Filipino Community

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Better a good journalist than a poor assassin.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre

TORONTO - One thousand two hundred fifty-one videos, 2,718,590 views, and a base of 4.76K subscribers ensure bragging rights for this web-based news channel I created 10 years ago on Monday, the 15th of November 2010. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak).

Had not for the pandemic, I would have celebrated this tenth anniversary today (Sunday, November 15, 2020) with the eight people who had congratulated me on the birth of The Filipino Web Channel and who, over the most challenging times in presenting the good and bad news, have remained steadfast friends.

It's a tribute to their enduring friendship that I doff my hat to them, namely: Chubby Fojas, Toronto; Jesse Jose, Seattle; Merfa Bataclan, Toronto; Tenny and Myrna Soriano, Scarborough; Eddie Calderon, Ph.D., Minneapolis; Don Azarias, Chicago; and Frank Luna, Toronto.

My dear media colleague Tenny Soriano, the only person I knew when I moved here in 2010 from San Diego, California, had passed in July 2018. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdBI9EelyKE). I didn't know until now that my chatmate I fondly called Dr. Eddie (Calderon) had also passed away in November 2017. Rest in peace, my friends.

The sharp-tongued Jesse Jose retired from the US Navy as chief journalist, and now enjoys writing books in his hometown of Seattle, Washington to add to his stinging "A Cup of Kapeng Barako" collections where I had the privilege of penning the main foreword.

Don Azarias, formerly a banker who now lives in Chicago, Illinois, is equally vicious when challenged. He is unsparing in his thoughts and would not hesitate to engage in a brawl if need be. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3myEF-hauo).

The low-profile Philippine Bar topnotcher Frank Luna, formerly the Philippine Labor Attache in Toronto, wanders around like a tireless traveler in North America and Asia but calls Toronto and Manila home. His sarcasm is infectious and biting as when he let off a remark that had triggered a demand from sensitive media souls for him to be declared persona non grata. It didn't work, however.

I specifically mention their names here because these people believe in gritty journalism, not "praise journalism" many people are familiar with, and practiced by so-called media entities in the Greater Toronto Area.

I digress a little bit there, I know, but it's important for me to acknowledge them on this milestone. They inspired me to continue with The Filipino Web Channel when no one seemed to care whether or not the community gets to know the news and the hidden stories behind the news.

Nobody was doing video news reporting in the Filipino community at that time. Everyone in the local press was into print, either as tabloid or magazine, devoted to entertainment and socials. The nitty-gritty of journalism was practically neglected, evaded even, so as not to disturb the status quo.

I've tried my best to change that. I was intent on practicing what I knew from being a foreign correspondent, reporter, and editor for decades. When covering the news, I played the role of a skeptic and took an adversarial attitude - a fact mistaken for arrogance. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE).

In my mind, however, that was the best way to get at the bottom of the news. I still subscribe to the idea that for journalists to be objective, they should stay independent, remove from their social, political, or religious milieus, and friendships of convenience.

That sounds like a utopian dream which is impossible to keep in a community so close and personal as the Filipino community of Toronto. Well, it's a choice one has to make - to be friends with who matters and keep "praise journalism" intact, or to be an uncompromising journalist for all people.

A community performer named Manny Bade sums it up in a message posted on the channel a year ago. He says: "Romy, hayaan mo na yang naninira sayo. Basta trabaho lang. At peace tayo!"

Indeed, practicing adversarial journalism and/or investigative journalism comes with a price. Some people take umbrage at being exposed, yet they continue with their questionable activities. Others hate being written about in an unflattering light. The overly-sensitive resort to legal means to put a stop to the coverage.

Through these past 10 years, The Filipino Web Channel has effectively chronicled the unfolding history of Filipinos in the Greater Toronto Area and in the larger parts of the multicultural communities. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/user/FilipinoWebChannel#g/u).

Six months prior, or on June 12, 2010, I put up The Gotcha Journalist vlog, also known as Currents & Breaking News Channel, on YouTube to keep a tab on mainstream events. I had intended it as the go-to outlet for non-Filipino news but recently I also use it for all news coverage. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGotchaJournalist#g/u).

From that time on, the channel has racked up 1.82K subscribers and 1,596,969 views from 511 videos of my coverage in the United States (New York, Washington, DC, and San Diego); Europe (Berlin, Germany; Brighton, Oxford, London, Stratford-upon-Avon in the UK; Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo in Spain; Venezia, Taormina, Rome, Savona, and Sicily in Italy; Marseilles and Paris in France; and Dubrovnik in Croatia.

The Filipino Web Channel and Currents & Breaking News Channel are my flagship channels. Together, they have accumulated 4,315,559 views from videos totaling 1,762. That's not counting my other channel - Filipino Web Entertainment - which has already amassed 1,562,379 views and 2.4K subscribers from 542 videos since I created it on September 6, 2011.

The whole point of all of these is that I'm marking a decade of journalism in Toronto. I've won friends and lost some. And those who remain friends are my friends forever. With them, my journalism grows free and unencumbered. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Friday, 13 November 2020

COVID Assessment Test Yields Negative Result

Volume 2, Issue No. 38

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, November 13, 2020

~ How calming it is to know one's situation in the face of misery and death all over, in the city, province, country, and across the globe brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Despite denials by non-believers in the south, the True North sets an example: to believe in the science and abide by the protocols. A more restrictive measure is being put in place in the city soon for everybody's well-being.

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FOLLOW THE PROTOCOLS, IT'S GOOD FOR OUR HEALTH

Subduing COVID-19 Without the Vaccine

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“If we do what is required of us, we shall live in safety.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

TORONTO - An overused phrase it might be, but I'm inclined to avail myself of it just the same. "Out of an abundance of caution" is the responsible way to describe what we, and I, did this week.

As citizens and residents of Toronto, Canada's largest city (population: 2.9 million), we have an obligation to the government and the general population to follow measures that ensure the health and safety of everyone, particularly in this time of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wearing a mask or face shield, washing hands frequently, staying six feet apart, avoiding crowds, self-quarantining when unwell, etc. - are among the basic protocols that help mitigate the spread of the virus while the global search for an antidote is underway. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40FrmoIf8sA)

Unlike in some parts of our neighbor to the south, we're not going to politicize any of those protocols. Our health is still our only wealth immeasurable by money. We follow the rules not so much for our individual selves as for the many others, to contain the disease.

We trust the science, the medical doctors, the public health experts - not the people, particularly the "macho man" who blabbered ignorantly against it and, because of his distrust, had fallen victim to it. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/09/trump-downplays-but-he-knew-coronavirus.html).

The rising numbers of confirmed cases and deaths due to COVID-19 in the city are worrisome. The arrival of winter in the next 37 days might complicate the situation further worst. So it is incumbent upon us to stick to a code of health conduct issued by the authorities.

In fact, starting Saturday, November 14, 2020, Toronto Public Health is implementing additional health measures to reduce the spread. The restrictions are "most severe" available before widescale lockdowns, authorities said. (Full details are available at: https://www.toronto.ca/news/public-health-measures-for-red-control-level-and-toronto-public-health-specific-enhanced-measures/).

"To combat the resurgence of the virus in the city, all people in Toronto should be staying home whenever possible, only going out for essential activities like work that cannot be done from home, attending school and getting fresh air and exercise," the city said in an announcement.

As of this writing (Friday, Nov. 13), Toronto, with a population of 2,956,024, reported 33,322 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 1,432 deaths due to the disease (COVID-19) it brings. Perhaps it's a tribute to the robust health measures in place that the situation here is not as bad as in the US. Besides, Canadians are compliant.

For example, the City of Chicago with a population of 2,670,406 (or nearly as close to Toronto's), has 125,549 confirmed cases and 3,163 deaths. The huge difference in Toronto and Chicago is stark-naked: 92,227 in confirmed cases, and 1,731 in deaths.

With all those things in mind, we set out on Wednesday, November 11, 2020, for the 15-minute drive to North York General Hospital's Branson Ambulatory Care Centre on Finch Ave. West for the COVID assessment test. Two days earlier, a schoolboy in the family recounted over dinner that one of his classmates had tested positive for the virus.

That set off the alarm bells, prompting us to seek immediate evaluation. So we bundled up in the car and went. About a dozen people, all masked up and physically-distant, were already queueing by the door. As it turned out, waiting in line was far longer than the test itself.

Once you've been through step 1 (identifying oneself and explaining one's reason for the test); step 2 (confirming personal information); and step 3 (where a health worker directs one to any of the six makeshift rooms the hospital had erected on the ground floor), the test was a breeze.

A health worker comes in and explains the procedure, which involves inserting a Q-tips-like cotton swab into the nose. The process called "Nasopharyngeal Swab" lasted no more than 10 seconds and was more annoying than painful. It almost triggered a sneeze. And then, it's done, one's free to go.

So, we went home confident. The paper (handed during step 2) containing all the personal information states: "The results of your COVID-19 test are available in most cases within 2-3 days".

Well, it wasn't that long actually. On Thursday, November 12, 2020, or the day after, the information on the personal web link they provided says: "Result Negative".