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 . . . . . .


Hall E of Metro Toronto Convention Centre where Mabuhay Festival took place.

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.



Site of Mabuhay Festival on Saturday, July 23, 2011.

 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.

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.

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/  

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.

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The vinta was the design motif of the festival.

 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.

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/  

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.
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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/ .

Sleazy Writing and Distorted Reporting

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Pictures in this collage are from Rene Sevilla, Troi Santos, Benjamin Uy and Bing Branigin

PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE/The Filipino Web Channel - Redefining Community News

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?


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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.

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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San Diego Bakery Creates 'Noynoy Pandesal' for the Philippine President

PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE/The Filipino Web Channel - Redefining Community News 

Currents & Breaking News Feature
Volume 5, Issue No. 13
/ 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 Wednesday, July 20, 2011

~ The clamor has become irresistible. So while San Diego's creative baker contemplates whether to proceed or not with yet another specialty creation, customers at her bakeshop repeatedly asked. So one day this month, "the Noynoy Pandesal" and a companion bread, the "Noynoy Ham & Cheese Bread", were quietly introduced at the famous The Original Richard's Bakery in National City, California. Public response has been overwhelming.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The "Noynoy Pandesal" at the Original Richard's Bakery in San Diego, California.

ANOTHER PRESIDENTIAL BREAD
Filipino Baker Creates "Noynoy Pandesal" for Philippine President

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 - After the smashing success of her name breads, there's no stopping this hardworking Filipino entrepreneur from creating another.


This time, it's a special bun or dinner roll - pandesal as Filipinos call them - labeled "Noynoy Pandesal" after the popular Philippine president Benigno Simeon Aquino III, nicknamed Noynoy or P-Noy by Filipinos, who was elected in June last year.

It's no coincidence that the Original Richard's Bakery in San Diego, California is known widely in the United States as the "bakeshop of presidents, champions and celebrities" for in its stock of merchandise, there's extraordinary bread for each one of them.

"It began with President Barack Obama," explains Ms. Wilma Fernandez Ventura, owner and creative genius behind all her distinguished creations, in a phone interview.

Mr. Obama's election in 2008 was a watershed in US history. In her San Diego Filipino community, there seemed to be not much appreciation for the fact that Mr. Obama is a person of color and that his triumph may be construed as a huge breakthrough for all people of color like Filipinos.

"In that context I thought of celebrating him and immortalizing his achievement with a bread. So I created the 'Obama Pandesal,' a hamburger-bun shaped bread made from wheat and stuffed with stewed (adobo) chicken, green peas, carrots, raisin and cream cheese," Ms. Ventura says.

On the same day Mr. Obama took office on January 20, 2009, the Obama Pandesal was officially launched at the Original Richard's Bakery with a commemorative program attended by high-ranking officials. (I was there and covered it for several online publications and my San Diego newspaper).

The mayor of the City of National City, Ron Morrison, cut the ribbon that unveiled the new bread. Also in attendance were the city's vice mayor, Frank Parra; Cesar Solis, the first Filipino assistant chief of police of San Diego; and other guests. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gJUd7EQ2pA ).

The Obama Pandesal instantly became a hit in both the mainstream and Filipino communities, and made Ms. Ventura's two-decades-old bakeshop even more famous, though her intent was to honor the US President.

"The Obama Pandesal reflects your belief and admiration with President Obama," wrote North Carolina-based journalist Pasckie Pascua. "You have the right to exercise that admiration. Some write songs, dedicate a movie, put up a statue -- you make a pandesal. A novelty and it's cool".

Now President Noynoy Aquino - simply P-Noy to all - is joining the presidential rack at the Original Richard's Bakery, with his namesake bread Noynoy Pandesal occupying a place of prominence like the Obama Pandesal. (Video at: http://www.youtube.om/watch?v=GtBSbk6QzqE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL ).

The Noynoy Pandesal is the same size as the regular pandesal, except that it looks yellowy with the addition of artificial coloring to simulate the president's favorite color, yellow, which was also the trademark color of his deceased mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

"The ingredients make it special," according to the 46-year-old Ms. Ventura who herself formulates the mix. Nearly 30 years of experience in bread-making has made her an expert. That expertise goes into the making of the now-familiar celebrity breads, a niche her bakeshop now solely occupies.

Customers wear a smile coming into the bakery. That's because the names of the different breads ring familiar. For example, the Brazo de Pacquiao and the Siete Coronas de Pacquiao are specialty breads named after Philippine boxing champ Manny Pacquiao.

The brazo is for his formidable arms; the siete coronas (seven crowns) for the seven boxing titles he currently holds. And then there's a healthy, non-alcoholic drink from Philippine fruit juices quite appropriately named Pacquiao Punch, a take from the champ's knockout jabs that have floored his boxing opponents. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD2yNU_oUuQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL )

Cory Aquino, the housewife turned president after the removal of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, is likewise celebrated. Ms. Ventura made sure her memory lingers with special rice cakes (or bibingka) in artifically-colored yellow, yellow being the revolutionary color in ousting Marcos.

Then there's another tribute to a fine Philippine actress, Patricia Javier, who transitioned from entertainment to domestic bliss and marked the occasion by a change to her real name, Genesis.

Ms. Ventura immortalized the milestone by creating Genesis Loaf, a hugely successful bread that tastes like a muffin. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU8DbR5sm6E&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL ).

Asked how the Noynoy Bread is faring so far nearly a week after its soft launch, Ms. Ventura says: "People gobble it up crazy. I can say it's a testament to his popularity as president".

The "Noynoy Ham & Cheese Bread"

Ms. Ventura already created a variation, the Noynoy Ham & Cheese Bread, after noting her customers are clamoring for it.

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. 13, July 20, 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