~ The grand illusion comes out nice and clear with no less than a mutual admiration club lending its name to what amounts to pulling the wool over our eyes. If a recent announcement in Facebook by this fundraiser is given merit, the local media association has grown bigger that it has ever been. From a small community in Toronto, he claims, it spreads its wings province-wide. Consequently, without mentioning it, the people behind it must be so good. But nothing could be further from the truth.
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When one feels no shame in telling a deliberate lie, there is no evil, I tell you, he will not do.” ― Buddha Gotama
LONDON, England – As posted in Facebook, it would appear like an innocent description. Reading through it, however, reveals a subtle attempt at subterfuge.
Innocuous as it may sound, it should not be allowed to pass without as much as a slap on the wrist. The media organization has the duty to correct it, but as of this writing, nothing is forthcoming from members or officials.
I refer to the recent announcement of a certain Jeff Rustia, the fundraiser given to pompous talk and excessive verbiage, who said, and I quote verbatim: “I’m very happy and proud to announce that my mother, Melinda Parreno Rustia, has been elected to the Board of Directors of PPCO – Philippine Press Club of Ontario…, the umbrella organization of all Filipino media, (TV, Newspapers,Radio ) in the province. Congratulations. My mother is the Publisher and Editor of Ifilipino Magazine, the first Filipino-Canadian full colour magazine, established in the early 90’s to focus on Filipino Achievers. We couldn’t be more proud, Mom!”
A son obliging his mother looks commendable. But wait, he makes everything bigger than the eye can see, much bigger than could be grasped, much much bigger than the reality!
Philippine Press Club Ontario is a social club no bigger than most mutual admiration societies popular in the Filipino community. At my last count, it has 47 members, of which 17 had chosen a left-leaning ideologue for its president in the election preceding the recent one.
I mentioned 17 – a third of the membership – just to point out the kind of inactivity that afflicts its members. It’s probably safe to say that only a few could be considered legitimate media, and I mean those who cover, write and report the news for newspapers, magazines or online publications.
The rest are non-reporting social climbers and photo opportunists who view their PPCO membership as a license to get free accommodation to stage shows, concerts, lunch or dinner events. Oh, they also love out-of-town picnics in picturesque Niagara.
Though PPCO uses Ontario in its corporate name, it does not mean it has individual or organizational members in the entire province. Its area is bigger than France and Spain put together, and I honestly doubt if PPCO could enlist members from the province’s 444 towns and cities, let alone in the capital Toronto, and in the national capital Ottawa.
Having said that, it is quite deceptive to say, and I quote this Rustia again, ” . . . Philippine Press Club of Ontario…, the umbrella organization of all Filipino media, (TV, Newspapers,Radio ) in the province.” What “umbrella organization” is he talking about? Is there such an animal?
The responsibility to clarify what PPCO is all about rests on its officers. The last I heard and read is that Rose Tijam – again, and again! – is the new president. Her election, or their selection, is quite a sad reflection of the state of PPCO. It might as well be called Philippine Praise Club Ontario. (Related story at: http://www.balita.ca/2013/08/31/commentary-melindas-rose-an-obsequious-sycophant/).
In my four years in Toronto, I still have to find an honest-to-goodness media organization of, by and for Filipinos. PPCO doesn’t come close to any of the three categories. But if PPCO is Philippine Praise Club Ontario, it would qualify hands down; if it’s Philippine Pet Club Ontario, it’ll easily fit the mainstream.
As a foreign correspondent with the Asahi Shimbun and Deutsche Presse Agentur right before I moved to San Diego, California, I was a member of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) and the National Press Club of the Philippines. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE)
As big as they are, FOCAP and NPC made no claim as being an “umbrella organization”. FOCAP had the world’s finest journalists as members, among them from the major wire agencies Agence France Press, ANSA (Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata), Associated Press, DPA, EFE, Kyodo, Reuters, United Press International; and the big newspapers like Asahi Shimbun, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Mainichi Shimbun, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Straits Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and news magazines like Time, Newsweek, Asiaweek, etc.
Still, having a world presence like that, FOCAP never boasted being an umbrella organization because it was not, it is not. The same goes true with NPC whose membership extends to the remotest regions of the Philippines. It doesn’t call itself an umbrella organization.
Jeff Rustia’s description of PPCO as an “umbrella organization” is self-serving. It’s akin to pulling the wool over our eyes. It doesn’t measure up. Why did he, to use the phrase, inflate something with something?
Well, first of all, it’s his mother who is out again to some position that gives a semblance of credibility to a claim that she’s a media person, who, according to this Jeff Rustia again, “is the Publisher and Editor of Ifilipino Magazine, the first Filipino-Canadian full colour magazine, established in the early 90’s”. He didn’t say it’s already defunct.
In the same breath, I could also brag that I am the founder, publisher and editor of three newspapers in San Diego, California, in the late 90’s, namely, Diario Veritas, The District Times and the Philippine Village Voice. But none of them physically exist now.
My newspapers were, in the same breath again, the first and only Filipino print publications in San Diego to have engaged in investigative journalism, the reason that up to now I still get malicious and filthy email attacks from people impacted by my exposes.
But knowing this Jeff Rustia in the context of all his extravagant claims to fame, the latest one about his mother and the PPCO is intended to be a big boost. (Related story: http://www.balita.ca/2013/05/31/beauty-pageants-and-fashion-show/).
I recall how Kol Hope Foundation, which is essentially Melinda and Jeff, characterized its “Philippine presidential gala” in November 2011 as being “now known throughout the world as The Most Glamourous Filipino Ball on Earth”.
That leaves the social climbers very little elbow room to invent themselves unless they join this current plan to populate the new frontiers, the moon and the planet Mars, some years from now. It would seem to be the only two places where a Jeff clone could mount a similar ball in the galaxy.
The Most Glamourous Filipino Ball on the Moon. The Most Glamourous Filipino Ball on the Planet Mars. The Most Glamourous Filipino Ball in the Galaxy. Whew, isn’t that lunacy?