Filipino Web Magazine

Friday, 11 November 2022

Filipinos Now Have a Voice in Local Government in California

Volume 4, Issue No. 23

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, November 11, 2022

~ Filipinos in the City of National City, the San Diego, California suburb that I've known for many years, have chosen a representative to occupy a seat in policy-making and be the voice of a co-equal. Thanks to the election three days ago of business executive Ditas Yamane to the post of councilor in the area's newly created District 3. She easily defeated a challenger who had parachuted to the place from another neighborhood. But voters knew; they knew who was real and who was not. And the overwhelming verdict is that Ditas Yamane deserves the position.

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CITY OF NATIONAL CITY, CALIFORNIA

Ditas Yamane: the Face of Public Service

The Long-Time Executive Is Now the Voice of a Co-Equal

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom". - George S. Patton

TORONTO - The people have spoken in clear and unmistakable terms. The absolute winner in the November 8 electoral contest is a three-decades-long resident and community leader.

The match should not have happened in the first place in the second-oldest city in San Diego County, California - that's the City of National City - a small suburban enclave peopled by at least 10 different racial and ethnic groups. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf8TM-Ff_iI).

Its very diversity was the main reason to change the way residents vote. So, instead of electing officials at large, meaning city-wide, the local government adopted starting in November this year the concept suggested by Filipinos, i.e. voting by districts.

"The City Council has concluded, on the advice of the City Attorney, that the public interest would be better served by considering a transition to a district-based electoral system," the city ordinance passed in April decreed.

The old system had disadvantaged Filipinos whose numbers (based on the 2000 census of a population of 54,260) had placed them second, at 19 percent, after the Mexicans' 53 percent.

The 2020 census had lumped Filipinos in the Asian category which is now the largest demographic at 18.5 percent, bigger than Hispanic-White's 11.6 percent. In that sense, the predominant population is Americans of Asian descent. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo-YTfAo_Rs)

The city was then subdivided into four electoral districts. The odd-numbered districts 1 and 3 had their elections this November 8 while the even-numbered districts 2 and 4 will have theirs in November 2024.

District 3 is practically a Filipino town as it has the highest concentration of Filipino residents, businesses, restaurants, and groceries, including the giant Seafood City which operates in the Greater Toronto Area since 2017. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LNNve5nM34&t=309s).

That's also the place where Ditas Yamane, an experienced realtor, entrepreneur, and community advocate lives with her family for the last 30 years.

When the election by districts was adopted, the overwhelming sense was that she was a shoo-in for the position in case she considered running again for an elective post. Previously, she had been unsuccessful in her persistent pursuit of public office.

In the Nov. 8 polls, Yamane emerged the winner in District 3 with 1,006 votes, or 60.79 percent, over her only rival, a Filipino-American woman of questionable motives whose name isn't worth mentioning, to capture the seat, according to an unofficial tabulation by the regional newspaper The San Diego Union-Tribune.

At this writing, her number has risen. The Registrar of Voters had put the votes she garnered at 62 percent as of Thursday, Nov. 10. Historically, gaining 62 percent of the vote assures a win.

Yamane's victory is significant in many ways, but the main takeaway is that it guarantees a place on the table of official policy-making.

Moreover, the low-key voice that had been ignored and long unheard of in the corridors of power is now poised to be recognized as a co-equal.

"I believe that people voted for me because they also believe the second highest population of National City must have representation," says Yamane, who for years has held executive leadership positions in community and nonprofit organizations.

"Furthermore," she states in a brief interview by electronic mail, "they have seen that I continue to serve my city as chairwoman of the Planning Commission, chairwoman of the Housing Advisory as well as Citizens Advisory for Sweetwater Authority".

In her candidate statement prior to the election, Yamane, who has a wealth of experience in financial analysis and business management, declared: "I have the skills and experience necessary to help in strategic solutions to any challenges that our city faces.

"I love National City. I will work hard to provide the services and respect our community deserves. I am committed to putting our Neighborhood First! (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H9HW5-8Dwc).

Indeed, starting January 1, 2023, Filipinos in National City will no longer be the "swing vote" that they've always been before Yamane's historic election.

"We want to be a part of the policymaking, of the influence that’s happening in the city that we contribute economically,” she said in another interview.

Thursday, 10 November 2022

The Forgotten Filipino Heroes of World War II

Volume 4, Issue No. 22

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Thursday, November 10, 2022

~ The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month was in 1918 signaling, 104 years ago, the end of the First World War with the capitulation of Germany to the Allied powers. In the United States, the day is called Veterans Day. In Canada, it is Remembrance Day. Despite differences in semantics, the meaning is not lost to those who survived the conflict, and to the millions more who experienced another conflict that dragged the Philippines years later. Our guest writer is a son of a genuine war hero and he writes here about his father, a tribute to commemorate Veterans Day.

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A VETERANS (OR REMEMBRANCE) DAY TRIBUTE

A Soldier Remembered

He Was Self-Effacing to a Fault

By CONRADO "SLUGGO" RIGOR, JR.

Guest Writer

Fate whispered to the warrior:
“You cannot withstand the storm…”
The warrior whispered back:
“I am the storm.”
—Author unknown

SEATTLE - My father’s contemporaries tell me he was an authentic war hero -- with emphasis on the word ‘authentic.’ Of course, this makes the family genuinely proud. A war history buff, I often wonder why there are lesser stories told about victories featuring Filipino soldiers during the last world war. Were they key players or not in the triumph of the Allied Forces in the last Pacific War?

Except for the overplayed (General Douglas) MacArthur U-turn to the archipelago, military historians focus more on defeats and tales of infamy like Bataan, Corregidor, and the Death March. Commemorations of these woeful events of subjugation are held every year but rarely do people remember engagements where the Filipino soldier had helped defeat the enemy.

In one crucial and bloody military operation in the final months of World War II from January 19 till August 15, 1945, my father had led all-Filipino combatants of the 3^rd Battalion, 121^st Infantry, USAFIP-NL. Reinforced by gritty bolo-men from the Mountain Province, his three battalions assaulted Japanese defenses at Bessang Pass in the rugged mountains of North Luzon.

After see-saw pitch battles through muddy trails, leeches, insect bites, and freezing rain, it was Dad’s unit that first broke through the formidable defense line of the Japanese entrenched in caves and steep terrains of the Cordilleras.

Pitch battles lasted through three months of monsoon and humid season and finally led to the surrender of the Tiger of Malaya, General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Other high-ranking Japanese Imperial Army and Naval flag officers had regrouped in the Philippines from nearby Asian cities. With the fabled Tiger in command, they formed a last stand. Among them was an Admiral, the Vice-Chief of Staff of the Japanese Imperial Navy, who had co-led the submarine sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

My father, “Daddy” to his nine children and to our mother Erlinda, was not much of a talker. He was the quiet, self-effacing-to-a-fault type. In his circle of friends and comrades, he was known as an upright, ram-rod-honest soldier-scholar, a poet, writer, and an ROTC Vanguard reservist from the University of the Philippines. Friends called him “CB” or Condring.

In his writings, Daddy paid homage to poets E.E. Cummings and Jose Garcia Villa when he studied philosophy and letters as a government scholar at the Columbia U in New York following his wartime service. He took up courses there with the then General Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower. After a three-year stint in the U.S., he returned to the Philippines to help establish the English Department of what is now a premier institution, the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Loakan, Baguio.

Throughout his abbreviated years on this planet, he rarely spoke about his wartime service. But his comrades-in-arms had recognized his dedication to the cause of the veterans when he was unanimously elected as charter Secretary General of what is now the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP), an organization that he had helped to organize so that there would be advocacy and substance to the peacetime campaigns of the forgotten Filipino soldier, his widow and family.

Dad’s comrades-in-arms (who became distinguished personages) like Fred Ruiz Castro, Ferdinand Marcos, Macario Peralta, Carmelo Barbero, Calixto Duque, Pete Bersamin, Ms. Pilar Normandy, Ms. Josefa Capistrano, Francisco Bautista, Roberto Reyes, Eulogio Balao, Simeon Valdez, Nicanor Jimenez, Jose V.H. Banzon, Arnulfo Banez, Desi Jurado, Amador Daguio, Pio Escobar…to name a few...were always in contact with Dad and Mom. They would frequent the quarters where our family lived at various military camps. Some shared what they had gone through in Bataan, the Death March and Capas. Others told stories of what they accomplished that day in June of 1944 when the morning sun was hidden by clouds in Bessang.

What Dad had dubbed in his post-war writings as “The Battle of the Clouds” is said to have marked the end of major hostilities after General Yamashita and his staff were escorted down the foot trails of the Cordilleras. From there the Japanese General was taken to a military trial in Manila and then to Los Banos, Laguna where he was executed as a war criminal.

Dad, in his journal writings, pointed to the battle in Bessang Pass as an “engagement of redemption,” coming full circle after “the shame and ignominy that was Bataan.” Poetic lines he wrote about Bessang would later be repeated by politicians seeking public office. A wordsmith at heart, Dad had laid out in after-battle reports and writings a path for aspiring north Luzon politicians.

Dad’s comrades said that PR men and campaigners of one soldier-turned-politician took liberty in creating the impression that General Yamashita surrendered to the politician’s unit.

“For every tear, a victory,” are poetic lines Dad wrote about wartime struggles and triumph. Shortly after Dad suddenly died in May 1960 at age 46 from asthma complications (and incompetence of medical staff at the V. Luna Medical Center), his writings, files, and journals vanished.

According to Mom, she had turned them over to some of Dad’s comrades-in-arms to be used in recording the role of the USAFIP-NL in World War II.

The pain and trauma of Dad’s passing was still fresh to a grieving family when a devastating flood — two weeks after he was interred at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani — nearly washed away the house he had built in Little Baguio, San Juan.

Dad’s library books, priceless journals and files were damaged beyond repair. Whatever he had kept in his library about “The Battle of the Clouds” were lost forever. Only the writings and testimonials of those who had fought with him remain.

Perhaps the tamper-free World War II files of the United States Military Archives would reflect rosters of Filipino fighting men in the benighted peninsula of Bataan, the defense of Corregidor, the infamy of Death March, the agony at the Capas P.O.W. concentration camp. And the valor and gallantry in the final battle that was Bessang Pass.

On hindsight, many wonder to this day if envy and prejudice that lurked in the hearts of those who had revisited military episodes would diminish the glory reaped by Filipino soldiers who fought a war that was hardly theirs.

A book written by Dad’s communication officer in Bessang, Visayan Ernesto Rodriguez Jr. (founder of the College Editors’ Guild (CEG), entitled “Bad Guerillas of Northern Luzon,” is said to be a first-hand chronicle of the war campaign in that region.

The book relates how war makes monsters out of men, how Filipinos fight each other, some siding with the enemy for survival.

Serialized in a politically partisan tabloid, the book about war in the northern region became controversial. Commentaries by the author were quoted in news articles criticizing President Ferdinand Marcos’ war records. Author Rodriguez was an ally of Marcos’ adversary, Ninoy Aquino, who he visited often in Boston. Rodriguez was later rewarded with an appointment as Mayor of his hometown in Iloilo when Marcos went on exile.

I learned to my dismay more misleading reports created in the aftermath of Bessang Pass. Because Mom was loyal to her high school chum and later her boss Marcos, she had deliberately avoided meeting book author Rodriguez who had desperately sought an interview and to secure a photo of Dad.

Rodriguez recounts operations about Yamashita’s retreating army. Filipino combat units under the command of Col. Russel Volkmann of the United States Armed Forces in the Philippines-North Luzon (USAFIP-NL) earnestly tracked the enemy. Desperate Japanese Imperial Army (re-enforced by kidnapped Koreans) troops had ravaged Manila, destroyed roads and bridges, terrorizing towns ofLuzon as they retreated northward.

In a rare storytelling episode on our way to Dolores, Abra one summer in the early 50s, when we were still in grades school, Dad parked the car on a roadside along the national highway. He pointed to mountain ranges in the distance. There he said he had fought side-by-side with brave soldiers and bolo-men as they assaulted Japanese forces in the rugged Cordilleras. Bessang, he said, is 20 miles away from historic Tirad Pass where Filipino General Gregorio del Pilar sacrificed his life battling another foreign army.

Dad told us that many who fought against his Third Battalion, 121^st Inf., USAFIP-North Luzon, were young Koreans not more than 16 years old. Frightened, hungry and sick, the Korean boys were prisoners of war (POWs) who were forced by the Japanese to wear ill-fitting uniforms and fight the Filipinos. Many ran from the trenches to surrender. #

Epilogue

Two decades after Dad was buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, I met some of his comrades-in-arms who fought with him in Bessang Pass. They expressed dismay over a battle that could have been a profound glory hour for the Filipino soldier in WW II. The surrender of the highest-ranking Japanese Imperial Army General to Filipino combat officers supported by Ilocano Bolomen from Abra, Ilocos Sur and the Mountain Province was all forgotten. Why? For some reason, American officers behind the battle lines—in the lowlands at San Fernando, La Union----upon hearing the breakthrough of Yamashita’s defenses and the Tiger of Malaya cornered by the USAFIP-NL 3^rd Bn, 121^st Infantry---were in disbelief. They radioed the Filipinos: “Do not move until further orders.” Only when the Americans arrived in Bessang Pass the next day that Yamashita’s surrender was bannered to the world. Dad’s aging comrades shake their heads in silent scorn. One outspoken Filipino war veteran commented: “Well…the full-bore ‘I Shall Return’ propaganda had to have a glory spin to it and the victory in Bessang Pass was a sure fit…”

The other spin to the Tiger of Malaya’s surrender was that he reportedly refused to emerge from his cave unless there were Americans to receive him --- for fear that vengeful Filipinos would kill him right there. This was pure rubbish, Dad and his comrades declared. For war crimes, Yamashita was executed by the Americans anyway.

And so, Filipino warriors remain forgotten and invisible under the WWII radar of valor and sacrifice. Like that haunting song, Dad and his comrades “…will never die, they’ll just fade away…”  To those who revere truth and fairness, a conviction that redemption comes in the end lives on. - SR

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Conrado (Sluggo) Rigor, Jr. resides in Seattle, WA and is an advocate for aging Filipino WWII veterans, widows and orphans. He is adviser to the Filipino War Veterans of Washington (FWVW) headed by 96-year-old Commander Greg Garcia, a retired civil engineer from Batac, Ilocos Norte and who had participated in the Bessang Pass campaign as a radio engineer for the 15th Inf., USAFIP-NL. # (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).

Friday, 28 October 2022

A Money-Making Fest Gone Awry Due to Greed?

Volume 4, Issue No. 21

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, October 28, 2022

~ Oh no. No, no, no, no. It's not a typo. The headline of this article is correct. Sure it sounds like the American medical drama on television but this one also involves humans and human interaction. Greed, that excessive desire for wealth, appears to have girdled some personalities in the Filipino community to such an extent as to betray trust, friendships and loyalty. And - if reports are accurate - all for a trifling sum of money.

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THE FILIPINO COMMUNITY'S CASH COW

Greed's Anatomy

How Thousands of Dollars Changed Hands

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Fraud is the daughter of greed.” ― Jonathan Gash

TORONTO - In real-life situations in this city's Filipino community, how much difference can $15,000 make?

The question may sound flimsy, but there's an underpinning of truth there, and if truth be told, that amount of money can do many things. Here are some that I can think of:

1. It can buy loyalty.

2. It can win friendships.

3. It can guarantee a seat of prominence in community events.

4. It can open doors to the lavish offices of politicians.

5. It can make one a VIP, if not a superstar.

6. It can change social status.

7. It can make one a prominent figure in friendly media.

8. It can command respect.

9. It can move mountains.

10. It can unmake potential adversaries.

Fifteen thousand dollars is not much of a huge sum to prompt any or all of the 10 possibilities listed above. True. If that applies to a person, entity, or both, that shows how miserly the person is and the situation he's in. Wicked, if I may add.

Even if we turn a blind eye, or stand deaf as a post, the reality is upon us.

The buzz is that a pitiful-looking community player - let's call him MVT for most valuable trickster - has pulled off his latest caper by convincing a newborn not-for-profit (allegedly) corporation (let's designate it as NFP-2) to take care of a street festival planned for next year.

Debts and debtors have not been settled yet, after all, the other not-for-profit org (let's designate it as NFP-1) was wrestling to survive the unexpected failure of its much-hyped fiesta in Little Manila.

Prior to its staging, MVT and NFP-1 had the sweetest, even affectionate, (or, it appeared) partnership, most times coming to the defense of the other against critics and skeptics of their extravaganza.

In their idiotic podcasts listened to only by nonthinking associates, they poisoned the airwaves with their nonsensical conversation, usually laced with gossip and innuendoes, and on occasions, they resorted to diatribes.

NFP-1 is the place to find an assortment of pretenders, among them an unblushing, card-carrying "reporter" who obviously belongs to this distinct group called "pinabili ng suka, pagbalik journalist na!". Folks like her are dime a dozen in the local media circle.

It's no surprise that MVT felt comfortable with them because, at his core, he's also a phony. If one is looking for an example of the proverb "birds of a feather flock together," it's there sitting on the laps of MVT and NFP-1.

Maybe it was MVT's outward looks, his delusion of grandeur, and the promise of instant cash that had bewitched NFP-1 to partner with him. So, whatever their state of mind was, the people behind NFP-1 swallowed MVT's lies hook, line, and sinker.

NFP-1 reportedly invested a sizable sum - estimated at $85,000 (unverified) - and handed it to MVT. Of course, MVT was ecstatic beyond belief. Two years of the pandemic had deprived him of the moolah he had been expecting from his questionable ventures.

In some ways, that money supposedly deepened their friendship. That's what NFP-1 thought. Wrongly! And now NFP-1 is paying for it.

As the weeks and days inched closer to the festival in August, the situation looked bleak. The public turnout was good, according to those who were there. And the vendors? Nobody would say.

Complaints, however, are starting to surface. Legitimate vendors who paid a princely sum for their booths had been practically eased out by transient vendors who secretly paid much less to MVT. Cash payments from the under-the-table deal allegedly went to MVT and were unrecorded.

Most apparent, the things MVT had promised NFP-1 did not materialize. In other words, NFP-1 was on the verge of losing an arm and a leg. That fate finally fell on NFP-1 as the festival wound up.

The coward that he is, MVT set off. He dumped NFP-1 and took NFP-2 in without notice as a matter of courtesy. Reports said NFP-1 learned of its firing by word of mouth or rumors that became plausible.

If news (unverified) were to be believed, NFP-2 is pouring in something to the tune of $100,000. Yes, from NFP-1's five figures to NFP-2's six figures.

That meant the $15,000 difference between being a true friend and having a new friend of convenience for MVT.

So, it's that amount of money, reportedly, that doomed NFP-1. MVT has found another potential, and seemingly willing, victim. Well, it's too early to say whether NFP-2 would deliver.

Wednesday, 26 October 2022

12 Years, 3+Million Views, 5.91K Subs - A Million Thanks To All!

Volume 4, Issue No. 20

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Wednesday, October 26, 2022

~ A struggle of epic proportions led to the creation of an online news outlet twelve years ago next month. That's my flagship The Filipino Web Channel (TFWC) on YouTube (youtube.com/@FilipinoWebChannel), which was born of a need for informative and enlightening news reportage in the Filipino community. Chalking up millions of views is a cause for celebration as it is also an occasion to thank the people underlying those numbers who stick for the latest community news, and more.

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12 YEARS AND THREE-MILLION-PLUS VIEWS

TFWC Chalks Up a First

A Big Milestone for the Online Filipino Web Channel

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"The greatest joys in life are found not only in what we do and feel, but also in our quiet hopes and labors for others". - Bryant McGill

TORONTO - Short of three weeks before its 12th year of service to the community, my flagship outline news outlet has chalked up what might be the first social media entity in Canada's largest city to attain a high level of confidence among its diverse audience.

Spreading the news, scrutinizing contents, interpreting the hidden meanings, and vocalizing them for easy understanding have been the guideposts since The Filipino Web Channel (TFWC) came to light on November 15, 2010.

From that time on, it struggled to cover news and events ignored and neglected by both mainstream newspapers and the local Filipino media, the latter preferring socials and gatherings that have little to no impact on the growing but the less informed community.

I've been monitoring the rise in the number of views from 2,999,782 on October 21 to 2,999,969 the next day, to 3,000,133 to 3,000,289, and to 300,000,435 on October 24th. As of this writing this Wednesday, TFWC on YouTube (youtube.com/@FilipinoWebChannel) has amassed 3,001,063 views and 5.91K subscribers.

In comparison with views and subscribers of established networks and corporate-funded news outlets with large staffs and inexhaustible budgets, the numbers notched by the solo-run TFWC are mere drops in the bucket.

But taken in the context of free social media where content is generated by users, vloggers, ordinary citizens, non-journalists, and the public at large, the same numbers gain strategic significance.

YouTube and other social media have encouraged and strengthened citizen engagement in what was once the exclusive domain of media behemoths, thus paving the way for the emergence of citizen journalists, or those with a nose for news but with no formal training in journalism.

In a community, or shall I say a world, corrupted by fake news by pseudo-journalists such as what we have in the Filipino community, eyeballs that translate to views are an indication of trust, acceptance, and reliance on the information being dished out, in this particular case, by TFWC.

The unstated belief is that the people behind those millions of views feel comfortable with the information being handed to them in the form of news, analysis, and videos of interviews, incidents, and situations involving the authorities, public and private officials, and the public.

It's faith in TFWC's ability to inform them of the truth; faith in the ability to provide them with accurate information through honest and objective reporting.

Twelve years is quite a laborious time to earn the respect and trust of a broad community that the TFWC has been serving voluntarily and without expectation of rewards, financially or otherwise.

Truth to power has been its guiding principle from the get-go. And while that stance has brought about legal troubles, and professional, and personal challenges, none has impeded our mission to inform and enlighten even at great cost and sacrifice.

TFWC has never traded its independence, never succumbed to pressure, never hesitated to tell the facts, and never sacrificed truth for convenience. It remains steadfast to what it advocates.

With at least 1,211 videos of the most relevant happenings in the Filipino and the broader community under its belt, TFWC has grown to be a preferred chronicler by persons in high places and organizations wishing to advance their initiatives.

Even as the numbers (of videos and views) rose to new highs, TFWC stays grounded, selective of its coverage but never aloof, candid but never presumptuous, and honest but not mendacious.

TFWC has earned its place in the social media world through hard work and an uncompromising attitude. Our viewers may find some stories and filmographies annoying, upsetting, and disgusting, but that's how truth evolves.

Our allegiance is to the truth and not to friends and momentary supporters who endeavor to convince us to discontinue the slippery path we have taken for the sake of neighborliness and charity.

No, TFWC's outreach to the community is not beholden to anyone. For the record, the birth of TFWC was spurred by the prevarications obtaining then as it is now 12 years and counting.

As editor and founder, I see the increasing number of patrons of TFWC and the six other YouTube channels under the umbrella of Romar Media Canada as an overwhelming vote of confidence for the work and news coverage we're doing for years.

There are more than three million reasons to celebrate this milestone.

And the best way to do that is to thank viewers all over the world, mainly in the Philippines, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and several countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East who continue to keep track of the many happenings here in our base of operations, Toronto, Canada's largest city.

Wednesday, 19 October 2022

New Org to Manage Taste of Manila in 2023

Volume 4, Issue No. 19

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Wednesday, October 19, 2022

~ The silence is broken by a trickle of information that the foremost Filipino street festival in Canada has contracted a new group to manage its event next year. That's the pleasant way of saying it. Absent any statement from officials, we can only speculate the obverse side of what's happening - and that is the Taste of Manila has tossed out the "Tuloy ang Saya" tandem of Ramon Datol aka Mondee and Cecille Araneta who both headed the purported not-for-profit International Entertainment Company that managed the recently-concluded ToM 2022.

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EXIT I.E.C., IN COMES SPARC

ToM Tosses Out Mondee, Araneta?

A Group Called SPARC to Run Taste of Manila 2023

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ― Leo Tolstoy

TORONTO - "The early bird catches the worm" is a proverb that means "someone will have an advantage if they do something immediately, or before other people do it". Another dictionary meaning is "the person who arrives first is the one who is successful".

Well, the figurative "early bird" is the Taste of Manila (ToM), the street festival resurrected from the pandemic by a team of slick cheats and staged in August 2022. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-org-eyes-holding-taste-of-manila.html).

Still a good 10 months away, a new organization fancifully named Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community (SPARC) is itching to advance ToM's age by leaping the chronological calendar a full year from its birth in August 2014.

From that point to next year on August 2023, Taste of Manila - the trade name, not the street festival - would be nine (9) years old. The fest itself was even younger, five years old, when it breathed last due to the pandemic.

But even before the coronavirus struck, ToM already teetered on the edge of downfall in 2018 had it not been rescued by Toronto authorities headed by Mayor John Tory who apparently waived fees ToM organizers could not afford to pay. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8o2o8D4Xpk&t=184s).

The ToM event practically died after its last staging in 2019 through the pandemic years, thus my reference to it as the historical ToM or ToM 2014-2019. It came back this year, thus the post-pandemic Taste of Manila 2022 (ppToM 2022).

The in-between ToMs (years 2020 and 2021) were virtual, their substantive content stolen by a gang of thieves from my YouTube channel. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/08/). (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ&t=3s).

By my reckoning the real TOM fest was only five years old, its lifespan was from August 2014 to August 2019. ToM's first year is 2014, but to be a year older, the count begins in 2015, which is what I did.

SPARC, on the other hand, says it would be ten (10) years by then, the reason it is celebrating what it calls a decade of "Filipino culture, food, music & community". "Isang dekada na!" it says in Tagalog.

Danilo "Sani" Baluyot, SPARC's executive director, explained that their counting follows what he calls "the 1-10 premise of counting instead of 0-9 sequence". In that context, the first time ToM was staged in 2014 is considered a "Year 1" so that by 2023, it's already "Year 10".

SPARC's entry naturally leads to questions about what happened to the "Tuloy ang Saya" tandem of Ramon Datol aka Mondee and Cecille Araneta of the jeepney-is-the-national-car-of-the-Philippines fame who organized the ppToM 2022 under the purported not-for-profit International Entertainment Company or IEC. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdTnX700_a8).

"We are not privy to ToM's decision to 'junk' IEC," says Baluyot. "ToM Inc. offered us a contract for ToM 2023," he stressed. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/whats-in-name-is-araneta-araneta.html).

The contract signed by Rolly Mangante, the self-proclaimed founder of ToM, calls for SPARC "to organize and execute the 10th season of Taste of Manila to be held in the 3rd week of August 2023," according to Baluyot.

So why are IEC, Datol, and Araneta suddenly out of the picture? There are holdovers, however, such as Pepito Torralba and Dannasol Luna, the pseudo reporter who, Baluyot says, "is not part of SPARC" and remains with ToM Inc. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/toronto-tabloid-quietly-hits-back-at.html).

A published report by publicist Tony San Juan, a retired teacher, said ToM Inc. is headed by Mangante as president and CEO, and his wife Nieves, and daughter Jacqueline, as directors.

From this account of ToM's soft launch this week at Republika restaurant in Little Manila, it seems clear that Mangante got rid of troublesome partners and turned ToM into a Mangante family venture.

ToM's turnaround is the fifth in its existence. SPARC is the latest to manage it in 2023 after a series of failures despite massive public attendance to its events.

The first organizer is the alleged not-for-profit Philippine Community Cultural Centre (PCCC), followed by the Philippine Legacy and Cultural Alliance (PLACA), then by Philippine Community Events & Services of Ontario (PESO), and finally, the International Entertainment Company (IEC)

Unsurprisingly, Mangante has not responded to questions as of this writing. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/little-manila-no-country-for-stupids.html).

ToM executives include Pepito Torralba, chief coordinator; Ricardo Dumlao, contingency officer; and Lovely Danna Luna, communications director. Serving as consultants are Joseph Redoblado, Lorelei Redoblado, and Tony A. San Juan. (Additional story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/little-manila-is-where-spurious-finds.html). (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).