Thursday, August 18, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
War of Words Has Replaced War of Annihilation
PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE/The Filipino Web Channel - Redefining Community News
Currents & Breaking News
Volume 5, Issue No. 19
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Friday, August 12, 2011
~ The war of annihilation at the turn of the 20th century had ended more than a 100 years ago but the war of words as to how to categorize it has not abated. A youth group in Toronto called Kamalayan has that verbal discrepancy underscored as it conducts an awareness campaign of Philippine history. Last week, Kamalayan put up a booth at a popular square in downtown Toronto where volunteers explained ancient and contemporary Philippine history in hopes of educating those who cared to listen.
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CREATING AWARENESS OF PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Philippines Says It's 'War'; US Insists It's 'Insurrection'
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - In the eyes of Filipinos, the bloody armed conflict at the turn of the 20th century between the Philippines and the United States was a full-scale war.
Americans, on the other hand, perhaps embarrassed by their failure to "pacify" the islands after they took over from Spain in 1898, called it an "insurrection", which implied acceptance of and subservience to US authority.
In the name of "pacification" one entire village in the central Samar province was turned into a "howling wilderness", as described by the American general who implemented the campaign that saw the massacre of thousands of Filipinos from 10 years up.
The telling and re-telling of this sad chapter in Philippine history vary from American mouth to Filipino mouth, as it is from many US and Philippine history books.
But the truth has not been contested - the conflict had claimed casualties in the hundreds of thousands, or upwards of one million people.
In Toronto, a Filipino youth group is conducting a Philippine history awareness campaign through workshops and community outreach. The latest was at the Filipino Making Waves Festival in Yonge-Dundas Square during the two-day weekend (Aug. 6 and 7, 2011).
"The goal is to tell Filipinos about their history," says Alex Felipe, co-organizer of Kamalayan (awareness), in an interview. "The history I tell is from the point of view of the masses of the people in the Philippines."
"Often, a lot of the history that I give is a little bit different from the mainstream. That's not to say that I don't give also the mainstream history. I will also give that and put it in context with the more progressive versions of the history," Felipe stresses.
Kamalayan's booth at the festival had attracted curiousity from a mix crowd of onlookers and history buffs because of the huge photographs mounted on easels showing American atrocities during what the Americans called Philippine Insurrection of 1899-1902 and which Filipinos referred to as Philippine-American War.
The US colonized the Philippines after Spain - the country's imperial colonizer for more than 300 years - sold the islands for $20 million in 1898, the same year Filipino revolutionaries declared independence. On July 4, 1946, the US granted the Philippines its own version of independence.
(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 5, Issue no. 19, August 12, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
My news channels can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2FLYca354w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
At Vimeo:
1. http://vimeo.com/16962555
2. http://vimeo.com/user41447
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/
Currents & Breaking News
Volume 5, Issue No. 19
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Friday, August 12, 2011
~ The war of annihilation at the turn of the 20th century had ended more than a 100 years ago but the war of words as to how to categorize it has not abated. A youth group in Toronto called Kamalayan has that verbal discrepancy underscored as it conducts an awareness campaign of Philippine history. Last week, Kamalayan put up a booth at a popular square in downtown Toronto where volunteers explained ancient and contemporary Philippine history in hopes of educating those who cared to listen.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 |
| A poster mounted on an easel shows a Filipino child on display in the United States. It's like a "human zoo," says Alex Felipe of the show. |
CREATING AWARENESS OF PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Philippines Says It's 'War'; US Insists It's 'Insurrection'
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - In the eyes of Filipinos, the bloody armed conflict at the turn of the 20th century between the Philippines and the United States was a full-scale war.
Americans, on the other hand, perhaps embarrassed by their failure to "pacify" the islands after they took over from Spain in 1898, called it an "insurrection", which implied acceptance of and subservience to US authority.
In the name of "pacification" one entire village in the central Samar province was turned into a "howling wilderness", as described by the American general who implemented the campaign that saw the massacre of thousands of Filipinos from 10 years up.
The telling and re-telling of this sad chapter in Philippine history vary from American mouth to Filipino mouth, as it is from many US and Philippine history books.
But the truth has not been contested - the conflict had claimed casualties in the hundreds of thousands, or upwards of one million people.
In Toronto, a Filipino youth group is conducting a Philippine history awareness campaign through workshops and community outreach. The latest was at the Filipino Making Waves Festival in Yonge-Dundas Square during the two-day weekend (Aug. 6 and 7, 2011).
"The goal is to tell Filipinos about their history," says Alex Felipe, co-organizer of Kamalayan (awareness), in an interview. "The history I tell is from the point of view of the masses of the people in the Philippines."
 |
| Alex Felipe, co-organizer of Kamalayan. |
Kamalayan's booth at the festival had attracted curiousity from a mix crowd of onlookers and history buffs because of the huge photographs mounted on easels showing American atrocities during what the Americans called Philippine Insurrection of 1899-1902 and which Filipinos referred to as Philippine-American War.
The US colonized the Philippines after Spain - the country's imperial colonizer for more than 300 years - sold the islands for $20 million in 1898, the same year Filipino revolutionaries declared independence. On July 4, 1946, the US granted the Philippines its own version of independence.
(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 5, Issue no. 19, August 12, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
My news channels can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2FLYca354w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
At Vimeo:
1. http://vimeo.com/16962555
2. http://vimeo.com/user41447
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/
Thursday, August 4, 2011
PIDC Barks, Gets a Slap on the Wrist
PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE/The Filipino Web Channel - Redefining Community News
Currents & Breaking News
Volume 5, Issue No. 18
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, August 4, 2011
~ Coming from a diplomat, it's probably the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Nevertheless, what's important is the demonstrated commitment by Philippine authorities to unbridled practice of freedom of the press, which, unfortunately, is lost in PIDC (Philippine Independence Day Council), the self-appointed prime mover of community festivities in Toronto's Filipino community. Irony of ironies, PIDC advocates selective censorship that favors media friendly to the organization and its officers. "Stop whining," a PIDC official barks at local journalists. To which Consul General Pedro Chan reacts: "We should give media freedom it deserves".
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"STOP WHINING," PIDC OFFICIAL BARKS AT JOURNALISTS
Top Diplomat Censures Media Censors at PIDC
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - Short of publicly chastising organizers for imposing on Filipino journalists, the top Philippine diplomat in Toronto said media should be given all the freedom it deserves rather than repress it.
Consul General Pedro Chan was reacting to news reports that local reporters were protesting the imposition of a waiver by the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) at last week's Mabuhay Festival at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
"When it comes to media people, there should not be any waiver," he stressed in an interview with The Filipino Web Channel.
Selected journalists were not allowed to cover the PIDC event without signing the waiver. Journalist Butch Galicia tore his press accreditation wrist band, firmly refusing to sign the paper and walked out of the event.
"What is 'independence' if they shackle one with a red wristband that smacks of press censorship?" Galicia asks.
Though the ranking executive officials of PIDC remained silent on the issue and did not respond to questions, one PIDC adviser has acknowledged that "mistake were (sic) done" by the organization in imposing the waiver. He then asked local journalists to "stop whining".
As the controversy over PIDC's unprecedented requirement spread in Filipino communities around the world, Chicago-based journalist Joseph Lariosa suggested that local media ask the Philippine Consulate to stop PIDC from using "Philippine Independence Day" in its activities.
"The PDIC organizers should come up with another name but not 'Philippine Independence' if the Philippine Consulate wants to promote press freedom," says Lariosa in an email to this reporter.
A waiver that PIDC required of some journalists to sign before they could cover its Mabuhay Festival last week has sparked an outcry from media in Canada and the United States.
"The waiver is destroying the image and spirit and name of Philippine Independence," Lariosa states.
In the meantime, Manuel Villamor, a member of PIDC's council of leaders, admitted the mistake. It's not clear, however, if he was speaking on behalf of the organization or of its executive officers who have remained tightlipped about the issue.
"Things happened . . . mistake were (sic) done . . . stop whining . . . get on with life . . that's the only way we can all improve and be happy," Villamor wrote in his telegraphic-style reaction.
Lariosa proposed that the consulate or Philippine embassy tell PIDC to drop the words "Philippine independence" in their undertaking because they contradict the very essence of freedom.
"If the Philippine Consulate will ignore your petition x x x community media practitioners are going to boycott the use of press releases of the Philippine Consulate, Philippine Embassy and Department of Foreign Affairs," he says. "If this does not work, then, you can write a letter to President Noynoy Aquino."
Consul General Chan said having a waiver, which amounted to censorship, and preaching independence were a contradiction.
"That's why Filipinos fought and died for because of independence and yet some people will stifle the media which are exercising it. That should never be," he emphasized.
"We are in a free society. And Philippine media is known to be the freest in the world . . . licentious even. But still we get more advantages for being that than for being restrictive . . . " Chan said.
(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 5, Issue no. 18, August 4, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
My news channels at You Tube and Vimeo can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FilipinoWebChannel#g/u
The Gotcha Journalist Channel at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGotchaJournalist#g/u
At Vimeo:
Romy Marquez's Channel:
http://vimeo.com/romymarquez2010/videos
The Filipino Web Channel:
http://vimeo.com/romymarquez/videos
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/
Currents & Breaking News
Volume 5, Issue No. 18
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, August 4, 2011
~ Coming from a diplomat, it's probably the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Nevertheless, what's important is the demonstrated commitment by Philippine authorities to unbridled practice of freedom of the press, which, unfortunately, is lost in PIDC (Philippine Independence Day Council), the self-appointed prime mover of community festivities in Toronto's Filipino community. Irony of ironies, PIDC advocates selective censorship that favors media friendly to the organization and its officers. "Stop whining," a PIDC official barks at local journalists. To which Consul General Pedro Chan reacts: "We should give media freedom it deserves".
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"STOP WHINING," PIDC OFFICIAL BARKS AT JOURNALISTS
Top Diplomat Censures Media Censors at PIDC
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - Short of publicly chastising organizers for imposing on Filipino journalists, the top Philippine diplomat in Toronto said media should be given all the freedom it deserves rather than repress it.
 |
| Philippine Consul General Pedro O. Chan |
Consul General Pedro Chan was reacting to news reports that local reporters were protesting the imposition of a waiver by the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) at last week's Mabuhay Festival at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
"When it comes to media people, there should not be any waiver," he stressed in an interview with The Filipino Web Channel.
Selected journalists were not allowed to cover the PIDC event without signing the waiver. Journalist Butch Galicia tore his press accreditation wrist band, firmly refusing to sign the paper and walked out of the event.
 |
| A copy of the PIDC waiver. |
Though the ranking executive officials of PIDC remained silent on the issue and did not respond to questions, one PIDC adviser has acknowledged that "mistake were (sic) done" by the organization in imposing the waiver. He then asked local journalists to "stop whining".
As the controversy over PIDC's unprecedented requirement spread in Filipino communities around the world, Chicago-based journalist Joseph Lariosa suggested that local media ask the Philippine Consulate to stop PIDC from using "Philippine Independence Day" in its activities.
"The PDIC organizers should come up with another name but not 'Philippine Independence' if the Philippine Consulate wants to promote press freedom," says Lariosa in an email to this reporter.
A waiver that PIDC required of some journalists to sign before they could cover its Mabuhay Festival last week has sparked an outcry from media in Canada and the United States.
"The waiver is destroying the image and spirit and name of Philippine Independence," Lariosa states.
In the meantime, Manuel Villamor, a member of PIDC's council of leaders, admitted the mistake. It's not clear, however, if he was speaking on behalf of the organization or of its executive officers who have remained tightlipped about the issue.
 |
| Manuel Villamor |
"Things happened . . . mistake were (sic) done . . . stop whining . . . get on with life . . that's the only way we can all improve and be happy," Villamor wrote in his telegraphic-style reaction.
Lariosa proposed that the consulate or Philippine embassy tell PIDC to drop the words "Philippine independence" in their undertaking because they contradict the very essence of freedom.
"If the Philippine Consulate will ignore your petition x x x community media practitioners are going to boycott the use of press releases of the Philippine Consulate, Philippine Embassy and Department of Foreign Affairs," he says. "If this does not work, then, you can write a letter to President Noynoy Aquino."
Consul General Chan said having a waiver, which amounted to censorship, and preaching independence were a contradiction.
"That's why Filipinos fought and died for because of independence and yet some people will stifle the media which are exercising it. That should never be," he emphasized.
"We are in a free society. And Philippine media is known to be the freest in the world . . . licentious even. But still we get more advantages for being that than for being restrictive . . . " Chan said.
(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 5, Issue no. 18, August 4, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
My news channels at You Tube and Vimeo can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FilipinoWebChannel#g/u
The Gotcha Journalist Channel at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGotchaJournalist#g/u
At Vimeo:
Romy Marquez's Channel:
http://vimeo.com/romymarquez2010/videos
The Filipino Web Channel:
http://vimeo.com/romymarquez/videos
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/
Friday, July 29, 2011
Filipino Journalists in Canada, US Decry Censorship
PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE/The Filipino Web Channel - Redefining Community News
Currents & Breaking News
Volume 5, Issue No. 17
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Friday, July 29, 2011 ~ A waiver that selectively allows only the "friendly" writers unrestricted access to its events is the very antithesis of the freedom Filipinos fought and died for. That essence has been lost in Saturday's (July 23, 2011) staging of Mabuhay Festival by Philippine Independence Day Council and ABS CBN-TFC. Now, journalists from across Canada and the United States are protesting the unprecedented imposition. One journalist asks: Is PIDC, a non-profit organization, hiding some mischief?
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IT'S CENSORSHIP, AN INFRINGEMENT ON PRESS FREEDOM
Journalists Protest PIDC's Waiver on News Coverage
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - An innocuous-looking piece of paper is kicking up a storm of controversy in the Filipino community after a local newspaper editor tore his media wrist band in disgust and walked off a press coverage during the weekend.
The incident provided the anticlimax to the staging of the Mabuhay Festival, a whole-day feast of songs, dances and food at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre that's still part of Philippine independence activities more than a month ago.
Officials of Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC), the umbrella organization that undertook the event in Toronto, had asked journalists to sign a waiver requiring them to get PIDC's permission to use their own film footage or photographs and to provide PIDC with copies of their works.
A press accreditation in the form of a red wrist band was withheld if a journalist refused to sign the waiver, as did happen to this reporter.
When confronted with a waiver, another writer, Butch Galicia, editor of a monthly community paper in Toronto, firmly refused to sign it. He then cut his wrist band in protest and returned the remnants to the volunteers at PIDC's media booth.
"It's an infringement on the press, a censorship," he told this reporter in an interview minutes after the incident on Saturday (July 23, 2011).
A co-sponsorship of the event by ABS CBN-The Filipino Channel, the Philippines' largest broadcast network, might have triggered the imposition to protect its talents from exposure, according to officials who did not want to be identified because of their ties with PIDC. The network brought at least seven performers from its base in Manila.
Journalist Tenny Soriano said he signed the waiver to get inside the hall and did not mind it because he wasn't taking pictures or videos. Later he realized it wasn't right that he'd be subjected to the requirement while others - those friendly with PIDC - were not.
"Is it because some reporters belonging to the Philippine Press Club - Ontario (a social club) have connections with PIDC?" he asked.
PPCO officials, namely Paul De la Cruz, Mogi Mogado, Riza Khamal and Hermie Garcia, did not respond to queries emailed to them on July 26.
PIDC president Minda Neri also did not reply to inquiries.
"I guess those responsible for even thinking of the waiver had so unceremoniously implied a formal declaration that separated those who could really do journalistic work from those who pretend and could not do so," Galicia said.
He said the PIDC waiver was "censorship of the highest degree clothed in sheepskin".
"It smacks of the lack of respect some people have over those who have humbly bestowed on themselves the now-I-understand-as-the 'useless second-class' rag tag as 'community journalists.' The waiver's face value -- even without reading the words -- simply says: 'Kowtow to us or you'll never get anything good from us'," Galicia stated.
He stressed that it was also an infringement on press freedom "because it can dangerously place a practicing journalist on the plateau of bias and mistrust after being threatened with what the organizers implied as their doubtful, if not dubious, intentions".
News of the waiver imposition has generated a backlash of angry comments from journalists across Canada and the United States. Such requirement apparently has no precedence in Filipino community organizing in both countries.
"Who do those PDIC people think they are? I believe Canada has the same freedom of the press like the United States'," says Chicago-based columnist Don Azarias.
A practising lawyer in Toronto with years of working experience in media said "The author is apparently just trying to be cute, and unfortunately found in the waiver outlet for the legal talent that he thinks he has".
"In any event, the caveat in legal gibberish is a nullius in verba -- obviously unenforceable within the context of the very public event. Wika nga, threat lamok," he says laughing.
Seattle, Washington-based journalist Jesse Jose agrees. "Yes, this so-called waiver is plain and simple censorship. And in capital letters too. This event is a public event right in the heart of downtown Toronto, and they're curtailing journalists to report on it. So stupid, I think".
He continues: "I think it's laughable that journalists who want to cover this PIDC event and write about it have to have a 'written permission' from officials of this group. They must be a bunch of ignorant morons. Haven't they heard of 'freedom of the press'? What are they hiding? What do they fear."
Print and broadcast journalist Ace Alvarez said he did not believe that the waiver, as worded, is censorship or an infringement on press freedom.
"However," he emphasizes, "having the journalists sign the waiver is a stupid act, since journalists may write and publish, produce and air on radio and television whatever and however they wish to present their stories".
"A waiver of such nature as PIDC asked journalists to sign goes to show that the PIDC people themselves do not understand the nature of our work," Alvarez says.
"In addition to a very poorly worded piece of document, the PIDC did not accomplish something, except perhaps, to get a free copy of the news article and/or the radio/tv production, or perhaps free photos from those who took them -- if those who took them would even respect the waiver they signed," he added.
(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 5, Issue no. 17, July 29, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
My news channels can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2FLYca354w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
At Vimeo:
1. http://vimeo.com/16962555
2. http://vimeo.com/user4144767
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/
Currents & Breaking News
Volume 5, Issue No. 17
/ 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 . . . . . .
 |
| Hall E of Metro Toronto Convention Centre where Mabuhay Festival took place. |
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IT'S CENSORSHIP, AN INFRINGEMENT ON PRESS FREEDOM
Journalists Protest PIDC's Waiver on News Coverage
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - An innocuous-looking piece of paper is kicking up a storm of controversy in the Filipino community after a local newspaper editor tore his media wrist band in disgust and walked off a press coverage during the weekend.
The incident provided the anticlimax to the staging of the Mabuhay Festival, a whole-day feast of songs, dances and food at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre that's still part of Philippine independence activities more than a month ago.
Officials of Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC), the umbrella organization that undertook the event in Toronto, had asked journalists to sign a waiver requiring them to get PIDC's permission to use their own film footage or photographs and to provide PIDC with copies of their works.
A press accreditation in the form of a red wrist band was withheld if a journalist refused to sign the waiver, as did happen to this reporter.
 |
| Site of Mabuhay Festival on Saturday, July 23, 2011. |
"It's an infringement on the press, a censorship," he told this reporter in an interview minutes after the incident on Saturday (July 23, 2011).
A co-sponsorship of the event by ABS CBN-The Filipino Channel, the Philippines' largest broadcast network, might have triggered the imposition to protect its talents from exposure, according to officials who did not want to be identified because of their ties with PIDC. The network brought at least seven performers from its base in Manila.
 |
| PIDC and ABS CBN-TFC co-sponsored the event. How much did PIDC get from the arrangement? |
Journalist Tenny Soriano said he signed the waiver to get inside the hall and did not mind it because he wasn't taking pictures or videos. Later he realized it wasn't right that he'd be subjected to the requirement while others - those friendly with PIDC - were not.
"Is it because some reporters belonging to the Philippine Press Club - Ontario (a social club) have connections with PIDC?" he asked.
PPCO officials, namely Paul De la Cruz, Mogi Mogado, Riza Khamal and Hermie Garcia, did not respond to queries emailed to them on July 26.
PIDC president Minda Neri also did not reply to inquiries.
"I guess those responsible for even thinking of the waiver had so unceremoniously implied a formal declaration that separated those who could really do journalistic work from those who pretend and could not do so," Galicia said.
He said the PIDC waiver was "censorship of the highest degree clothed in sheepskin".
"It smacks of the lack of respect some people have over those who have humbly bestowed on themselves the now-I-understand-as-the 'useless second-class' rag tag as 'community journalists.' The waiver's face value -- even without reading the words -- simply says: 'Kowtow to us or you'll never get anything good from us'," Galicia stated.
He stressed that it was also an infringement on press freedom "because it can dangerously place a practicing journalist on the plateau of bias and mistrust after being threatened with what the organizers implied as their doubtful, if not dubious, intentions".
 |
| A typical scene inside the festival hall. |
"Who do those PDIC people think they are? I believe Canada has the same freedom of the press like the United States'," says Chicago-based columnist Don Azarias.
A practising lawyer in Toronto with years of working experience in media said "The author is apparently just trying to be cute, and unfortunately found in the waiver outlet for the legal talent that he thinks he has".
"In any event, the caveat in legal gibberish is a nullius in verba -- obviously unenforceable within the context of the very public event. Wika nga, threat lamok," he says laughing.
Seattle, Washington-based journalist Jesse Jose agrees. "Yes, this so-called waiver is plain and simple censorship. And in capital letters too. This event is a public event right in the heart of downtown Toronto, and they're curtailing journalists to report on it. So stupid, I think".
He continues: "I think it's laughable that journalists who want to cover this PIDC event and write about it have to have a 'written permission' from officials of this group. They must be a bunch of ignorant morons. Haven't they heard of 'freedom of the press'? What are they hiding? What do they fear."
Print and broadcast journalist Ace Alvarez said he did not believe that the waiver, as worded, is censorship or an infringement on press freedom.
"However," he emphasizes, "having the journalists sign the waiver is a stupid act, since journalists may write and publish, produce and air on radio and television whatever and however they wish to present their stories".
"A waiver of such nature as PIDC asked journalists to sign goes to show that the PIDC people themselves do not understand the nature of our work," Alvarez says.
"In addition to a very poorly worded piece of document, the PIDC did not accomplish something, except perhaps, to get a free copy of the news article and/or the radio/tv production, or perhaps free photos from those who took them -- if those who took them would even respect the waiver they signed," he added.
(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 5, Issue no. 17, July 29, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
My news channels can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2FLYca354w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
At Vimeo:
1. http://vimeo.com/16962555
2. http://vimeo.com/user4144767
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/
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
PIDC: One Monstrous Gaffe After Another
PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE/The Filipino Web Channel - Redefining Community News
Currents & Breaking News
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Volume 5, Issue No. 16
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Tuesday, July 26, 2011
~ PIDC (Philippine Independence Day Council), the self-appointed prime mover of community festivities related to freedom day in Toronto, has gone from bad to worse. What it calls "a slew of successful events" were attended by one monstrous gaffe after another, generating unflattering comments from independent media, the group that's apparently targeted to have a hard time with the organization. At its festival on Saturday (July 23, 2011) at Metro Toronto Convention Centre, PIDC became selective in allowing who to cover its events, favoring the "friendlies" with easy access and saddling the "unfriendlies" with a requirement that amounts to censorship and media infringement. It's unbridled prejudice against those who question its affairs as a non-profit organization.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PREROGATIVE
Toronto's PIDC Has Gone from Bad to Worse
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - I went there with an open mind. I wanted to disprove my growing perception that Philippine Independence Day Council was not at all callous to journalistic inquiries. I needed to find out the truth in the portrayal by some Filipino newspapers that top PIDC officials, notably Minda Neri, were really good, honest and capable leaders.
My earlier unsympathetic impressions were ready to be cast off this Saturday, June 23, 2011 at the staging of yet another feast at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the Mabuhay Festival led by PIDC and co-sponsored by Kapamilya of TFC.
It's hard to say it's a community event unless the Kapamilya subscribers - meaning those who pay to watch the endless stream of soap operas and the usual singing, shrieking and dancing on TV - are the community.The more accurate way to say it is that PIDC-Kapamilya is just a fraction of a bigger community.
An event of greater significance to me was the huge picnic, also on Saturday, by the Bicolanos at Earl Bales Park, which I missed, unfortunately, because of another commitment. Between PIDC's extravaganza and this picnic, I prefer the latter simply because one finds true hospitality and real friendship there, not the fancy smiles of false teeth and the pretense of warm greetings PIDC is quite famous for.
I had intended to come at my usual time, which is at least 15 minutes before the event. On Saturday it was impossible to do that, for, again, the PIDC festival conflicted with the launching of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines - Canada. I had no second thoughts going to the latter.
The reason is that PIDC's entertainment fare was nothing new and could be accessed anytime on TV. Besides, the PIDC officials I had eagerly wanted to interview would surely become so busy again, chatting and eating, or simply hiding from the prying eyes of the press.
On the other hand, it's quite rare to break bread with colleagues in the working press for their time is as valuable as mine. Therefore, one need not belabor it, just go to NUJP, which was what I did.
When the NUJP event ended in mid-afternoon, I decided to go with friends to the PIDC festival. In the car with journalists Tenny Soriano and Butch Galicia, my mind was wandering. Would I be able to get somebody from PIDC to talk about Mabuhay Festival, its latest money-making venture? The PIDC is one fat cow again, I mused, but is it a milking cow?
Then I remember my experience a month ago at the PIDC picnic at Earl Bales Park where one monstrous gaffe after another came in torrents. My mind also thought about the miscues at the PIDC flag-raising at Queen's Park on June 12 and the gala event preceding that that saw an agitated Consul General Pedro Chan silently protesting the shabby treatment he got from PIDC partygoers who seemed enamored with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
After almost an hour snaking through the maze of side streets from High Park, we finally reached Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown. Tenny Soriano had repeatedly assured me that he had included my name in a list of reporters submitted to PIDC for accreditation to cover the festival.
Well, I thought that it was unncessary because PIDC officials knew who the real journalists are from card-collecting pretenders who are supposedly reporters, writers, photographers, etc. of some local newspapers. By face, if not by name, they could tell who's who. But PIDC had to be in control and the requirement made the organization look powerful.
While waiting at the lounge, I decided to take a quick look at the festival at one of the centre's function rooms in the basement. I wore my press credentials and brought out my camera. Then I walked into the cavernous hall, unchallenged by volunteers, aides and security guards.
Inside, I took videos and pictures and even had a brief interview with some business people while the PA system blared so loud the sound, perhaps amplified a thousand times, could shatter one's eardrums and let loose a spoonful of earwax. A face-to-face conversation was impossible to conduct.
I walked around the length and breadth of the whole area trying to compare a similar event by the Philippine Canadian Charity Foundation-Kapuso a month earlier in the same building.
It's no longer a question of which attracted the most number of people, rather, it was a question of which had the big splash. PCCF-Kapuso was huge, in fact, it was the biggest fiesta by Filipinos. PIDC-Kapamilya was also sizable, the magnitude of its bulk could be measured in the way they jammed the hall with ear-splitting noise and the choreographed shrieks of fans.
I could not stand the noise level. If I had wanted good entertainment, the place to go was not this PIDC event. But I was working, so I lingered for another five minutes, then happily walked out of the hall. At the lounge area on the ground floor, Butch Galicia was narrating his bad encounter with PIDC officials at the media booth.
"Sayang wala ka doon," he greeted me as I approached him. Why, what happened, I asked.
He got his accreditation, which was not an ID card or anything, but a red ribbon the media volunteers tied around his wrist. He said he tore it after he was asked to sign a waiver.
Nobody in his right mind would, so Butch firmly refused, and gave back the piece of paper. "It was an infringement on press freedom," he said.
Curious about the incident I went down to see if the volunteers would do the same thing to me. I had entered the hall earlier without anybody checking my press credentials and did not tell anyone in the media booth until later.
I told the volunteers my name, showed my IDs and asked to be given the accreditation. The man and woman volunteers searched for my name in their list and it wasn't there. The woman asked for my name again and my media outfit. Instead of answering her, I showed my press cards with my name, picture and media entities I represent.
She looked up the list again. There was no name like my name. Then the other woman repeated, for the third time, the question of what newspaper I write for. To make it understandable, she mentioned names of newspapers she's most familiar with.
I replied that I already gave her my answer - that I don't have a newspaper! I said everything you wanted to know about me can be found in my press cards. "Hmmm, Digital Journal, what's that?" I almost lost my temper. But I held on, realizing now that the people at the media booth are a bunch of misinformed if not ignorant volunteers.
One of the volunteers called a PIDC official, Imie Belanger, who recognized me and motioned the volunteers to give me a red ribbon. Before they would put it on my wrist, they asked me to sign the waiver.
I asked what it was, and the man said in Tagalog: "don't worry, it's not something that would land you in jail". I examined the piece of paper and took photographs of it. Butch Galicia was right and I agree with him. This is simply censorship by PIDC.
After taking pictures of the waiver, I told Imie Belanger and her volunteers that I really didn't need the red ribbon. Neither do I want to cover the event in exchange for signing the waiver.
As a matter of fact, I already got in there just to test the system, and did interviews, took videos and pictures. I had no interest going back. With that said, I gave back the red ribbon and the waiver.
Coming out of the convention centre, I realize that my initial impression about PIDC was correct. This Saturday, PIDC has just gone from bad to worse.
(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 5, Issue no. 16, July 26, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
My news channels can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2FLYca354w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
At Vimeo:
1. http://vimeo.com/16962555
2. http://vimeo.com/user4144767
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/
Currents & Breaking News
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Volume 5, Issue No. 16
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Tuesday, July 26, 2011
~ PIDC (Philippine Independence Day Council), the self-appointed prime mover of community festivities related to freedom day in Toronto, has gone from bad to worse. What it calls "a slew of successful events" were attended by one monstrous gaffe after another, generating unflattering comments from independent media, the group that's apparently targeted to have a hard time with the organization. At its festival on Saturday (July 23, 2011) at Metro Toronto Convention Centre, PIDC became selective in allowing who to cover its events, favoring the "friendlies" with easy access and saddling the "unfriendlies" with a requirement that amounts to censorship and media infringement. It's unbridled prejudice against those who question its affairs as a non-profit organization.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 |
| The vinta was the design motif of the festival. |
Toronto's PIDC Has Gone from Bad to Worse
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - I went there with an open mind. I wanted to disprove my growing perception that Philippine Independence Day Council was not at all callous to journalistic inquiries. I needed to find out the truth in the portrayal by some Filipino newspapers that top PIDC officials, notably Minda Neri, were really good, honest and capable leaders.
My earlier unsympathetic impressions were ready to be cast off this Saturday, June 23, 2011 at the staging of yet another feast at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the Mabuhay Festival led by PIDC and co-sponsored by Kapamilya of TFC.
It's hard to say it's a community event unless the Kapamilya subscribers - meaning those who pay to watch the endless stream of soap operas and the usual singing, shrieking and dancing on TV - are the community.The more accurate way to say it is that PIDC-Kapamilya is just a fraction of a bigger community.
I had intended to come at my usual time, which is at least 15 minutes before the event. On Saturday it was impossible to do that, for, again, the PIDC festival conflicted with the launching of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines - Canada. I had no second thoughts going to the latter.
The reason is that PIDC's entertainment fare was nothing new and could be accessed anytime on TV. Besides, the PIDC officials I had eagerly wanted to interview would surely become so busy again, chatting and eating, or simply hiding from the prying eyes of the press.
On the other hand, it's quite rare to break bread with colleagues in the working press for their time is as valuable as mine. Therefore, one need not belabor it, just go to NUJP, which was what I did.
When the NUJP event ended in mid-afternoon, I decided to go with friends to the PIDC festival. In the car with journalists Tenny Soriano and Butch Galicia, my mind was wandering. Would I be able to get somebody from PIDC to talk about Mabuhay Festival, its latest money-making venture? The PIDC is one fat cow again, I mused, but is it a milking cow?
Then I remember my experience a month ago at the PIDC picnic at Earl Bales Park where one monstrous gaffe after another came in torrents. My mind also thought about the miscues at the PIDC flag-raising at Queen's Park on June 12 and the gala event preceding that that saw an agitated Consul General Pedro Chan silently protesting the shabby treatment he got from PIDC partygoers who seemed enamored with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
After almost an hour snaking through the maze of side streets from High Park, we finally reached Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown. Tenny Soriano had repeatedly assured me that he had included my name in a list of reporters submitted to PIDC for accreditation to cover the festival.
Well, I thought that it was unncessary because PIDC officials knew who the real journalists are from card-collecting pretenders who are supposedly reporters, writers, photographers, etc. of some local newspapers. By face, if not by name, they could tell who's who. But PIDC had to be in control and the requirement made the organization look powerful.
While waiting at the lounge, I decided to take a quick look at the festival at one of the centre's function rooms in the basement. I wore my press credentials and brought out my camera. Then I walked into the cavernous hall, unchallenged by volunteers, aides and security guards.
Inside, I took videos and pictures and even had a brief interview with some business people while the PA system blared so loud the sound, perhaps amplified a thousand times, could shatter one's eardrums and let loose a spoonful of earwax. A face-to-face conversation was impossible to conduct.
I walked around the length and breadth of the whole area trying to compare a similar event by the Philippine Canadian Charity Foundation-Kapuso a month earlier in the same building.
It's no longer a question of which attracted the most number of people, rather, it was a question of which had the big splash. PCCF-Kapuso was huge, in fact, it was the biggest fiesta by Filipinos. PIDC-Kapamilya was also sizable, the magnitude of its bulk could be measured in the way they jammed the hall with ear-splitting noise and the choreographed shrieks of fans.
 |
| The crowd wait for their favorite talents. |
I could not stand the noise level. If I had wanted good entertainment, the place to go was not this PIDC event. But I was working, so I lingered for another five minutes, then happily walked out of the hall. At the lounge area on the ground floor, Butch Galicia was narrating his bad encounter with PIDC officials at the media booth.
"Sayang wala ka doon," he greeted me as I approached him. Why, what happened, I asked.
He got his accreditation, which was not an ID card or anything, but a red ribbon the media volunteers tied around his wrist. He said he tore it after he was asked to sign a waiver.
Nobody in his right mind would, so Butch firmly refused, and gave back the piece of paper. "It was an infringement on press freedom," he said.
Curious about the incident I went down to see if the volunteers would do the same thing to me. I had entered the hall earlier without anybody checking my press credentials and did not tell anyone in the media booth until later.
I told the volunteers my name, showed my IDs and asked to be given the accreditation. The man and woman volunteers searched for my name in their list and it wasn't there. The woman asked for my name again and my media outfit. Instead of answering her, I showed my press cards with my name, picture and media entities I represent.
She looked up the list again. There was no name like my name. Then the other woman repeated, for the third time, the question of what newspaper I write for. To make it understandable, she mentioned names of newspapers she's most familiar with.
I replied that I already gave her my answer - that I don't have a newspaper! I said everything you wanted to know about me can be found in my press cards. "Hmmm, Digital Journal, what's that?" I almost lost my temper. But I held on, realizing now that the people at the media booth are a bunch of misinformed if not ignorant volunteers.
One of the volunteers called a PIDC official, Imie Belanger, who recognized me and motioned the volunteers to give me a red ribbon. Before they would put it on my wrist, they asked me to sign the waiver.
|
| A copy of the waiver PIDC asked journalists to sign. |
I asked what it was, and the man said in Tagalog: "don't worry, it's not something that would land you in jail". I examined the piece of paper and took photographs of it. Butch Galicia was right and I agree with him. This is simply censorship by PIDC.
After taking pictures of the waiver, I told Imie Belanger and her volunteers that I really didn't need the red ribbon. Neither do I want to cover the event in exchange for signing the waiver.
As a matter of fact, I already got in there just to test the system, and did interviews, took videos and pictures. I had no interest going back. With that said, I gave back the red ribbon and the waiver.
Coming out of the convention centre, I realize that my initial impression about PIDC was correct. This Saturday, PIDC has just gone from bad to worse.
(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 5, Issue no. 16, July 26, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
 |
| Among the prominent people who attended the festival. |
My news channels can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2FLYca354w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
At Vimeo:
1. http://vimeo.com/16962555
2. http://vimeo.com/user4144767
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/
Monday, July 25, 2011
NUJP-Canada Vows to Uplift Community Journalism in Toronto
 |
| Some of the Filipino newspapers in Toronto. |
PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE/The Filipino Web Channel - Redefining Community News
Currents & Breaking News
Volume 5, Issue No. 15
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Monday, July 25, 2011
~ Filipino journalists in Toronto have strengthened their ability to demand dignity and respect by organizing themselves into a union, the first move in a process to professionalize the local media industry. Edwin Mercurio now heads the newly-formed National Union of Journalists of the Philippines - Canada, which was launched on Saturday, July 23, 2011 to upgrade journalists' technical skills and to work for standardized pay. NUJP-Canada could spell the end of freebies some newspapers enjoy.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NUJP-CANADA IN TORONTO
Filipino Journalists Want No More Freebies for Their Work
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - Stung by a proliferation of fake and incompetent media practitioners in the local newspaper industry, concerned Filipino journalists organized themselves into a union to work for standardized pay and to upgrade their technical skills.
Toronto's Filipino community of 250,000 has at least 15 entertainment-oriented tabloids, most of them heavily dependent on press releases and reprints from publications in the Philippines.
Some publishers, editors and reporters have no background in journalism and, least of all, the ability to write, and hire non-journalists for a pittance to edit and design their publications for them, according to journalists interviewed for this story.
"You read about entertainment. You read about the good news, the bad news in the Philippines; the good news and the bad news in Canada. You read all about them . . . but how much of the content comes from home-grown writers? Not even two percent," says Butch Galicia, editor of the monthly English-language Libreto newspaper in Toronto.
The continuing slide of local journalism into disrepute is exacerbated by a woeful lack of trained and schooled journalists, a problem made apparent by the dominance of content that highlights Philippine and Canadian entertainment.
 |
| Journalists Tenny Soriano and Butch Galicia. |
"The news that you read in the papers only tells you the alleluias of all organizations, including birthdays, weddings and all the sort," Galicia added.
The newly-formed National Union of Journalists of the Philippines - Canada hopes to improve the local situation.
"Our focus is on the promotion of press freedom and to work for the benefit and welfare of Filipino media practitioners in Canada and the Philippines," says Edwin Mercurio, NUJP-Canada chair.
A similar group exists in the Philippines but NUJP-Canada is the first nationally-organized union of veteran Filipino-Canadian journalists, writers, photographers and artists in North America.
Mercurio said NUJP-Canada recognizes the importance of training local media practitioners and volunteers to maintain a strong pool of talents, thus the planned Editors Weekend Trainings beginning this year.
"One of our main goals is to assist media practitioners in their just demands to be treated with dignity and respect; just compensation for their hours of work; social, health and other benefits," Mercurio stresses at the small gathering on Saturday (July 23, 2011) in High Park formally launching NUJP-Canada.
 |
| Officers, members and guests at the NUJP-Canada launching on July 23, 2011 in Toronto's High Park. |
The group also expressed alarm at what it calls "the continued killings of media practitioners in the Philippines and the prevailing culture of impunity".
The Philippines holds the global distinction of having the highest number of journalists killed in one day with the massacre of 32 media persons in Maguindanao province in Southern Philippines in November 2009. Twenty-five other civilians were also killed on that same day.
"This is one of the major reasons we are compelled to act and organized this union of journalists in Canada, as a symbol of our solid and continuing support for our beleaguered colleagues in the Philippines," explains Mercurio.
He said the Philippines is considered the most dangerous country in the world for practising journalists.
(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 5, Issue no. 15, July 25, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
My news channels can be viewed by clicking the links:
The Filipino Web Channel at YouTube:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2FLYca354w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL At Vimeo:
1. http://vimeo.com/16962555
2. http://vimeo.com/user4144767
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/ .
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Sleazy Writing and Distorted Reporting
 . |
| Pictures in this collage are from Rene Sevilla, Troi Santos, Benjamin Uy and Bing Branigin |
Currents & Breaking News
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Volume 5, Issue No. 14
/ 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 . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, July 21, 2011
~ A handful of Filipino protesters in six US cities and Toronto would hardly come up to a hundred. But a sleazy writer in San Francisco figured nobody would notice if he inflated the numbers, and he did, and passed on his distorted article with such a triumphant tone to all those who cared to publish. Was the simultaneous protest rallies a publicity stunt to wangle favors from Malacanag Palace? Why, of all people, would two "dumb lawyers" (as one journalist call them) and a "toxic" veterans advocate whip up such mass actions?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PREROGATIVE
The Spratlys Protest - A Case of Distorted Reporting
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - "On July 8," says a news item on the online Fil-Am Forum, "hundreds of Filipino Americans demonstrated in front of all six of China’s consular offices in the U.S. to protest China’s dispatch of its giant oil rig to the Spratly Islands which is within the 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines".
The story was written by a sleazy writer named Rodel Rodis, a San Francisco-based lawyer who gained some notoriety after his arrest by police on suspicion of passing what police had thought was a fake $100 bill in a Walgreen store a few years back.
Reviewing images by at least four photographers posted on the organizers' website, it would appear that Rodis' description of "hundreds" was an egregious mistake, a deliberate lie to mask organizers' failure to attract public support.
His account contrasted significantly with the bare facts. As the saying goes, pictures tell a thousand words, and the small gathering in the published pictures did not even approach a hundred in each of the six protest areas in the US.
"Hundreds" could mean anywhere from 100 to 999 and when use to estimate crowds, it usually indicates at least a thousand. Had I been his editor, and he should feel lucky I'm not or he would have a hard time proving his competence, I would question him a hundred times on why he wrote "hundreds" when the number of warm bodies hardly qualifies.
During the many protest rallies preceding the People Power Revolution of 1986, and before that, the run-up to martial law, the police and military tended to be on the conservative side, meaning they minimized numbers so as not to scare the occupants of the presidential palace or give credit to the opposition.
On the other hand, protesters were more inclined to exaggerate their ranks if only to boost their morale and attract more supporters. Journalists would take note of the conflicting claims and make their own estimates, usually based on historical precedence.
But the non-journalist Rodis never had that opportunity. He fled the Philippines when war was afoot, afraid of losing the earthly comforts of his inconsequential life and settled in the safe embrace of the United States where he sweet-talked his way to an American citizenship.
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| Rodel Rodis and his $100 bill. |
For him now to characterize the picketers as in the "hundreds" is not only wrong, it was clearly intended to inflate the numbers and create a false sense of widespread public support for their protest. For a while I thought he had the hundred-dollar-bill that had triggered his arrest fresh on his mind when he wrote the piece.
"Dozens" would be more accurate to quantify the protesters. In Toronto, for example, there's a handful, not even a dozen-and-a-half who joined. The same was true in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Houston as shown in the pictures by different photographers.
In San Diego, my home for 16 years, the "usual suspects" - people I personally knew who would mouth scripted lines and are quite notorious for their involvement in monetary scandals there - were on hand, dressed in yellow shirts, their faces camouflaged by dark glasses. I honestly believe that for them, it's another photo opportunity rather than a protest rally. Just look at them smiling their best.
Absent images of the picket, those reading Rodis' account may be led to believe that "hundreds" really went to the mass action. It could thus engender a "snowball effect" for whatever agenda Rodis' group, which includes Loida Nicolas, Eric Lachica and some NaFFAA (National Federation of Filipino American Associations) agents, is pushing.
In the context of the political and economic ramifications that the Spratly conflict could cause, the coordinated protests were innocuous barks of a few pranksters out to foment a diplomatic crisis between China and the Philippines. A crisis is a business opportunity, somebody has said. Who financed them and why?
Rodis, ambulance-chaser-cum-immigration lawyer, and Lewis, the wealthy-by-accident matron, are unalloyed yellow, loyal supporters of P-Noy Aquino, and before him, his mother Corazon Aquino, the first yellow reformist who rose to the Philippine presidency by a combination of luck, opportunity and accident. Lachica is the so-called veterans advocate San Diego Congressman Bob Filner had called "toxic".
Were Rodis, Lewis and Lachica, fully brown Americans, voicing out real concerns for the Philippines against the Chinese? Why would they suddenly whip up the Filipino American communities in the United States and in Toronto, Canada to a picket? Was the Spratly controversy a convenient and timely issue to launch their publicity stunt?
Diplomatic sources in Manila said the triumvirate and their cohorts may be trying to impress the president, P-Noy Aquino, that they enjoy public support in North America and could quickly summon people for their cause, to wangle some favors from Malacanang Palace. What those are, are still not clear.
Who's likely to gain if President Aquino decided to embark on a military adventure against the Chinese to assert Philippine sovereignty in the contested area? I heard that Lachica was proposing "defensive measures" that would involve huge sums of money.
I asked Rodis, Lewis and Lachica some questions related to the protests but instead of responding to the issues, Rodis barked his usual ad hominem: "Do you know anything at all about 'honest journalism' or is that a totally alien concept to you?"
Here we're talking about the Spratlys and Rodis couldn't get past his obsession with fellow journalist Bobby Reyes who exposed Rodis' bankruptcy filing the moment one of his clients sued him to recover some money.
How can one trust this guy with global issues like the Spratlys'? And to think, my sources tell me and this has not been confirmed, he's trying to win some juicy appointment in the Aquino government.
Lewis' answer, though relevant, raises another question. She said, and I quote verbatim: "Being militarily deficient in terms of armaments and number of soldiers/navy and economically superior, the Philippines is an easy frail target and we its citizen should come to its rescue when our territorial integrity is being threatened."
After saying "we its citizen", I asked her again: "But I thought you're an American citizen?" - the implication being that why should an American interfere with a purely Philippine problem. That's when she admitted being a dual citizen.
"The rally is meant to alert everyone willing to listen," Lewis said in another emailed reply. "Due to the noise we created, China has not moved its giant rig."
Lachica, perhaps too engrossed with finding boats to face the Chinese, never bothered to reply.
Whatever Rodis, Lewis and Lachica hope to accomplish with the Chinese and the Philippine officials in Malacanang, I am certain that the three are embarking on an expedition for greener pastures. My opinion is that they should just stay where they are - Rodis and Lewis at NaFFAA (National Federation of Filipino American Associations), and Lachica with the depleting ranks of Filipino veterans.
Related stories available at:
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/naffaagate/eric-lachica-rodel-rodis-and-loida-lewis-display-on-june-30-in-l-a-their-rackets-even-if-they-do-not-play-tennis
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/politics/the-naffaa-and-the-usp4gg-are-the-blind-leading-the-blind-as-few-people-join-them-in-protest-rallies-against-china
(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 5, Issue no. 14, July 21, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
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