Sunday, August 29, 2010

Politics Need Not Be a Blood Sport, Says Toronto Mayoral Candidate

PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE - Redefining Community News

Currents & Breaking News
Volume 4, Issue No. 30
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Sunday, August 29, 2010
~ Media coverage of the upcoming election in Toronto has been confined to a few candidates, none of whom speaks about the concerns and issues of a long neglected constituency -- the huge and vote-rich "visible minority". Thirty-seven are running for mayor of Canada's largest city yet the media focus is only on five. One candidate, Phil Taylor, breaks from the mudslinging mould of the five and provides a refreshing look at city politics. No traditional politician he appears to be. He preaches harmony and amity in the face of current adversities. To him, politics need not be bloody and insulting.

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Phil Taylor at Toronto's financial district.


INTERVIEW WITH PHIL TAYLOR
Politics Need Not Be a Blood Sport,
Says Toronto Mayoral Candidate


By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

TORONTO -- With the way mainstream media is portraying the Oct. 25 election, voters don't seem to have much of a choice. As if there's a dearth of qualified people.

The truth is, out of the five candidates getting all the media attention, there are thirty-two others less conspicuous but probably more qualified to run Toronto as mayor.

For the most part they are faceless, no name recall like a Miller or Ford, or a Harper or Ignatief, but just as enthusiastic to change the culture of politics at City Hall.

Consider Phil Taylor, author, public speaker, motivational guru.

Soft-spoken with an immense capacity to bear no malice towards anyone, he refuses to engage in the current muck-racking among the mainstream media's five, namely, in alphabetical order, Rob Ford, Jose Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman and Sarah Thomson.

Every tired word, every irrelevant issue, every little gaffe are magnified a thousand times by these media and re-echoed a hundred thousand times more in cyberspace so long as they are spewed from any of the five mouths of the talking heads.

It is in this context that Phil Taylor is a refreshing sight, perhaps a re-energizing change for all Toronto.

"I choose not to make this politics a blood sport," he declares in an interview with this reporter. It is his belief, he said, that running for a public office need not be that bloody and insulting.

Taylor preaches love, harmony and amity not for the sake of maintaining the status quo, as in the way public affairs are run and managed at City Hall, but as a means of evoking positives from everyone and preserving goodwill inherent in every man.

Asked why he stays quiet amidst the rancour among the candidates, he retorts: "That's not the path I want to go down".

(An earlier live interview is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9h4OrGl5A&feature=channel )

Taylor premises his run for Toronto mayor on the glaring fact that only 35 percent of registered voters have gone to vote in the past elections.

"This means people are discouraged," he explains. "They're not showing up in polls".

He adds: "That also means that people in positions of power and the candidates themselves are not addressing the majority of Torontonians".

"The core is this: People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care," Taylor states, sounding philosophical.

"The real question is: Do they really care? I just want to know if you care about me," he says.

Taylor does care enough for Toronto and its 2.48 million population (5.5 million in the Greater Toronto Area) that he wants to roll back taxes if he gets elected, and cut the mayor's salary. At least those two items are high in his agenda.

"Half of their (the population) life is being hijacked by the government through taxes," he explains. "We are not finding solutions by increasing taxes," he adds.

*           *          *
To know more about the election, please visit the city's official website at: http://www.toronto.ca/elections/
For the list of candidates, please visit: http://app.toronto.ca/vote2010/findByName.do?lastName=all

(This Currents & Breaking News may be posted online, broadcast or reprinted upon request by interested parties. Permission by the author and the editor must be obtained before any re-posting online or re-publication in print or re-broadcast. Copyright by Romeo P. Marquez, Editor, Philippine Village Voice, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Volume 4, Issue no. 30, August 29, 2010. Email at: PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).

For other stories, please visit:
1. http://currentsbreakingnews.blogspot.com/
2. http://torontonewsroom.blogspot.com/
3. http://timecircumstance.blogspot.com/
4. http://travelsthemes.blogspot.com/  
5. http://gotchajournalist.blogspot.com/  .

For news videos, please visit and click the links:
1. Tanza's Karakol in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7is306RJtTE&feature=channel
2. Warriors' Day Parade in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzz_t6gm_Aw&feature=channel
3. Bicol Canada Holds a Fiesta: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIdLxGckFhs&feature=channel
4.Toronto's Fetish Fair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op1qMCTzslA&feature=channel
5. Part II of Pistahan sa OLA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAnedigYdkM&feature=channel   
6. Pistahan sa Our Lady of the Assumption: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZCp_iHdnIc&feature=channel
7. Santacruzan in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkE1Jk7_U6U&feature=channel
8. Beauties & Queens of Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5CCCUneQ1I&feature=channel  
9. Shirt as a Medium to Foster Pride in the Philippines: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQszB31Coq8&feature=channel  
10. Katrina Halili and the Signing Stars in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnnQ_nV9CT0&feature=channel  

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Assassination That Brought Changes in the Philippines

President Cory Aquino after a meeting with foreign correspondents in Malacanang.


PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE - Redefining Community News

Currents & Breaking News
Commentary
Volume 4, Issue No. 29
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /


. . . . . A community service of Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, August 19, 2010
~ I thought I had the biggest news coverage of my professional career when bombs were exploded at a political rally in Manila's Quiapo district on August 21, 1971 that nearly wipe out the political opposition. It was my baptism of fire. Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. wasn't there providentially. Twelve years to the day later in 1983, the bigger story happened. Aquino was felled by an assassin's bullet at the tarmac of the Manila airport as he returned from exile. It's been 27 years since his death and the memories of that coverage remain vivid, etched forever in my mind. The much bigger story, perhaps the biggest of all, was when his widow took power three years after his death in 1986, kicking out the hated dictator Ferdinand Marcos and setting off dramatic changes in the Philippines. Now the Aquinos' son, Benigno Simeon III or P-Noy is president.
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PREROGATIVE
By Romy Marquez

MY NEWS COVERAGE 27 YEARS AGO
The Assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. --
the Event That Fueled Big Changes in the Philippines


TORONTO -- I never had an inkling that after 27 years, the son would try to fill in the shoes of his father and attempt to live the legacy of his mother.

One generation is gone and another is just unfolding. That's basically the story of the Aquinos -- from the former senator Benigno Jr., to his wife Corazon, to their son Benigno Simeon III. That's also the story of the Philippines, condensed in a sentence.

But the struggle has been long and laborious from the time Benigno Jr., aka Ninoy, was felled by assassin's bullets on August 21, 1983, to the transformation his death had fueled, to that moment his widow, the popular Cory to many, had been catapulted to the presidency the senator had had coveted.

Now, his namesake and only son, Benigno Simeon alias P-Noy, is president, less than a year after Cory had died on August 1, 2009.

These transformative events happened in all of 27 years. And thanks, and no thanks, to Ferdinand Marcos, the Aquinos had been in and out of the corridors of power that Ninoy had craved for and which Cory had despised.

I was among the several dozen foreign correspondents who covered Ninoy's homecoming on August 21, 1983 at the Manila International Airport. As events would later turn out, it was going to be one of my biggest news coverages ever, next only to the People Power revolution that was to happen three years later.

Then, the talk was rife that Ninoy would be arrested upon landing. The worst-case scenario was that he would be shot. Quite a few, however, had ruled this out, saying Marcos would not take such a gamble on a very popular critic that Aquino had been to him. He would be afraid to fan widespread unrest.

Some foreign correspondents wagered that while an assassination was possible, it was also implausible. The eyes of the world were upon Marcos and his totalitarian rule.

The airport was an unlikely scene. Being under the control of the military, the blame would inescapably be on the military, which, under a martial law situation, would mean the very top man in the political and military hierarchy. That meant Marcos.

So the general expectation was that he would be felled in transit as he's taken from the airport to a safe house or to the nearby Fort Bonifacio where he would be kept on house arrest.

Such a discussion continued with Aquino's relatives who were on hand to welcome him, among them, his sister Lupita and her husband, ABC reporter Ken Kashiwahara, and brother Agapito "Butch" Aquino, Salvador Laurel and many others in the opposition.

I was covering the arrival for my principal, Japan's Asahi Shimbun and my string, Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

The Japanese had an immense interest in Aquino, he being the scion of another Aquino who had been a friend of many Japanese politicians, specially during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. In fact, the Aquinos are quite popular in Japan as his father had collaborated with the Japanese along with President Jose P. Laurel.

But within minutes of the plane's arrival from a stopover in Taipei from the United States, Aquino lay dead on the tarmac.

The first news dispatch via satellite phone to Tokyo and Hamburg was a crisp one-liner: "Aquino shot upon arrival".

That first witness account flashed all over the world was enough to trigger an avalance of pre-written stories, awaiting a new lead that would come from Manila.

The second one-liner was more expressive than the first: "Aquino feared dead by assassin's bullet".

In the hours that followed, the airport was in chaos. Soldiers from the Aviation Security Command had formed a wall to stop the growing number of people who wanted to get in.

Meanwhile, we rushed to the Army hospital inside Fort Bonifacio where Aquino's lifeless body was taken. He had already succumbed by the time his army escorts made a show of whisking him for medical aid.

Between 10 p.m. and midnight, Aquino was brought to his Times St. home in Quezon City. His mother, Dona Aurora Aquino, had made sure Ninoy wore the same clothes he had had when he was shot.

I was there. I was one of the very first journalists to witness how his mother grieved while standing next to his coffin.

(This Currents & Breaking News may be posted online, broadcast or reprinted upon request by interested parties. Permission by the author and the editor must be obtained before any re-posting online or re-publication in print or re-broadcast. Copyright by Romeo P. Marquez, Editor, Philippine Village Voice, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Volume 4, Issue no. 29, August 19, 2010. Email at: PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).

For other stories, please visit:
1. http://currentsbreakingnews.blogspot.com/  
2. http://travelsthemes.blogspot.com/  
3. http://gotchajournalist.blogspot.com/ 


For news videos, please visit and click the links:
1. Toronto's Fetish Fair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op1qMCTzslA&feature=channel
2. Part II of Pistahan sa OLA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAnedigYdkM&feature=channel
3. Pistahan sa Our Lady of the Assumption: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZCp_iHdnIc&feature=channel
4. Santacruzan in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkE1Jk7_U6U&feature=channel
5. Beauties & Queens of Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5CCCUneQ1I&feature=channel  
6. Shirt as a Medium to Foster Pride in the Philippines: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQszB31Coq8&feature=channel  
7. Katrina Halili and the Signing Stars in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnnQ_nV9CT0&feature=channel  
8. Toronto Mayoral Candidate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9h4OrGl5A&feature=channel


For newsvideo coverage of Caribana, North America's largest Caribbean parade, on Saturday, July 31, 2010:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLzF2QNBw3U&feature=channel
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJfXcSaX8o&feature=channel
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHLiC6wyLZo


For post-G20 summit coverage:
1. Sideshow at Bubbles for Peace Protest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UzRcsnvnSY&feature=channel
2. Bubbles for Peace Protest at Queen's Park in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITFztAw9-5o&feature=channel


For video coverage of the G-20 summit, click the following links:
1. The other side of protest at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buJvzJm-E5A&feature=channel
2. Part I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRYY6xhuOW8&feature=channel
3. Part II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEX5W6Xgfy8&feature=channel
4. Part III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWm3_GAw4Kk&feature=channel
5. Part IV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q6OMZ53xzA&feature=channel
6. Part V: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4IIek0-_ZE&feature=channel
7.Part VI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQO7om6gPro&feature=channel
8. Part VII: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icDJYp_Fx-c

Friday, August 13, 2010

Iconic Symbol of End of World War II


This sculpture is a replica of the famous "Times Square Kiss" photograph of nurse Edith Shain and an unidentified sailor during the celebrations following the end of World War II in New York City's Times Square. The nurse in the picture passed away in June at the age of 91.

The huge sculpture adorns the Embarcadero lawn fronting San Diego Bay, which is right across from the submarine base in Point Loma.

August 14 this year is the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Philippines was dragged into the war in the Pacific theatre after the Japanese attack on the US base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

(Photo by Romy Marquez 3.25.2007)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

True Stories of Sacrifice, Misery and Triumph by a Filipina Caregiver

PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE - Redefining Community News

Currents & Breaking News
Feature
Volume 4, Issue No. 28
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
 . . . . . A community service of Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, August 5, 2010
~ Shedding a tear or two is inevitable while reading these stories of Filipino women toiling long hours in strange lands for the precious dollar that would allow their families to lead decent lives. Back home the opportunities are rare if non-existent, so they steel themselves and prepare for what fate may bring them as caregivers. One sad story leads to another, and another, more or less having the same circumstances of sacrifice, misery and triumph. Analyn D. Aryo -- caregiver, author, nanny -- writes "Nanny Tales" and makes a vivid portrayal of who these women are, why they dare do the back-breaking grind, and how they manage to maintain their dignity in the face of despair.

Analyn D. Aryo shows a copy of her book "Nanny Tales"
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AUTHOR ANALYN D. ARYO
'Nanny Tales' of Sacrifice, Misery and Triumph
Documented in a Book by Filipino Caregiver


By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

TORONTO - Analyn D. Aryo was halfway through getting her masters in agriculture at Benguet State University in the Philippines when she decided to embark on a different route, away from the academe and into a strange new world she had no difficulty conquering.

Now again, she looks into the future brighter than when she rolled into its unchartered course a few years ago in Hongkong and lately, here in Toronto.

The plant pathology major literally uprooted herself from Benguet where she was born and raised, to face the challenges of being part of a large family handicapped by lack of opportunities.

From a would-be agriculturist, she transformed herself, embraced her own reality, and went into something any Filipino, man or woman, can good-naturedly provide -- caregiving. Be it to strangers or family, the legendary Filipino hospitality is heartily shared. That, in a sense, is caregiving.

Analyn, now 30, is a caregiver, one of the many thousands of Filipinos who comfort and attend to families with kids and elders requiring a watchful eye and a diligence to serve.

Some people might find it surprising that the youthful-looking nanny is university-educated and has the facility to express herself orally or in writing in a language not her own.

But that is typical of Filipino caregivers, housekeepers, nannies, or what have yous, who have settled in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada. They are smart and highly-educated.

In the case of Analyn, she's probably the only active caregiver who's authored a book, aptly titled "Nanny Tales".

The 160-page volume the size of a pocketbook is fictionalized to protect the featured individuals but is based on her personal experiences and stories from other nannies she met in Hongkong and Canada.

The book reads like a serial soap opera minus the acting, for the players are real people caught in life-changing situations. They could be anyone's mother, sister or neighbor enduring and suffering in silence so that those left behind could manage to live decently.

But more than the personal accounts that tug at the heart and which the book chronicles, it is the insight that gives an understanding of why these nannies would put up a strong front and gamble with life and the future.

The stake is so high, basically the welfare of their familes in the Philippines, so that the home and family -- the husband, the son and daughter -- stay intact. Still, the heart-breaking saga isn't rare when a husband breaks his vows or a son or daughter goes astray.

When Analyn made the decision to become a caregiver in Hongkong, it was largely based on her belief that it would open doors for new opportunities. "Besides," she explains in an interview, "it was the easiest to apply".

She's the sixth of seven children of an Igorot family of the Applai (Besao) and Bontoc tribes of Mountain Province.

Analyn D. Aryo autographs a copy of her book.
"There wasn't much of a personal growth," Analyn says of her work as a staff writer and layout artist at the local department of agriculture in Benguet.

She had intended to be a journalist, her writing skills honed way back when she wrote for the high school paper and later as editor of the school organ in college. In Hongkong, she wrote an editorial for the SUN newspaper and won first place. After that, she got herself involved as playwright for the stage play "Migrant Collective".

Analyn moved to Toronto in 2007 and now works as a nanny.

From the time her book came out, the usual profile of a Filipina caregiver is getting a drastic makeover. No longer are they derided, according to her.

"Those who are not caregivers now understand the caregivers. There's more appreciation for them and what they do than before," Analyn proudly states.

In the meantime, Analyn continues to attend to her chores in a household in suburban Markham. One who wouldn't boast, she quietly enjoys the peace in her anonymity as a writer and book author. Her employers don't know.

"There are some things I need to keep to myself," she stresses, as if her book "Nanny Tales" -- now out there -- would guarantee she wouldn't be found out.

(This Currents & Breaking News may be posted online, broadcast or reprinted upon request by interested parties. Permission by the author and the editor must be obtained before any re-posting online or re-publication in print or re-broadcast. Copyright by Romeo P. Marquez, Editor, Philippine Village Voice, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Volume 4, Issue no. 28, August 5, 2010. Email at: PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com ).

Here's the complete set of newsvideo coverage of Caribana, North America's largest Caribbean parade, that took place on Saturday, July 31, 2010. To view, click the links:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLzF2QNBw3U&feature=channel
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJfXcSaX8o&feature=channel
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHLiC6wyLZo

For other stories, please visit:
1. http://currentsbreakingnews.blogspot.com/  
2. http://travelsthemes.blogspot.com/  
3. http://gotchajournalist.blogspot.com/  .

For news videos, please visit and click the links:
1. Santacruzan in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkE1Jk7_U6U&feature=channel
2. Beauties & Queens of Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5CCCUneQ1I&feature=channel  
3. Shirt as a Medium to Foster Pride in the Philippines: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQszB31Coq8&feature=channel  
4. Katrina Halili and the Signing Stars in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnnQ_nV9CT0&feature=channel  
5. Toronto Mayoral Candidate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9h4OrGl5A&feature=channel

For post-G20 summit coverage:
1. Sideshow at Bubbles for Peace Protest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UzRcsnvnSY&feature=channel
2. Bubbles for Peace Protest at Queen's Park in Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITFztAw9-5o&feature=channel

For video coverage of the G-20 summit, click the following links:
1. The other side of protest at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buJvzJm-E5A&feature=channel
2. Part I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRYY6xhuOW8&feature=channel
3. Part II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEX5W6Xgfy8&feature=channel
4. Part III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWm3_GAw4Kk&feature=channel
5. Part IV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q6OMZ53xzA&feature=channel
6. Part V: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4IIek0-_ZE&feature=channel
7.Part VI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQO7om6gPro&feature=channel
8. Part VII: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icDJYp_Fx-c