NOTEBOOK: Philippine Reporter turns 22

NOTEBOOK: Philippine Reporter turns 22

Today, March 10, 2011, marks the 22nd anniversary of the of The Philippine Reporter. As they say, how time flies.

Just two years ago, we celebrated the 20th anniversary with a Sunday afternoon party with then Toronto two-term Mayor David Miller as guest speaker. Now he’s been replaced by someone with opposite beliefs when it comes to running a city government.

Twenty-two years ago, in 1989, the world was in turmoil. That was the year when the Berlin Wall collapsed and the Eastern European so-called socialist countries witnessed the downfall of their governments. Now another strong storm of change is shaking the foundations of well-entrenched regimes, this time in the Middle East and north Africa. The rulers of Tunisia and Egypt have fallen.
Khadafi of Libya, after four decades of ruling his country, is hanging on to power with all his might. It is reported that more than a thousand people have been killed.

1989 was also the time when the Philippines was in turmoil. Then President Cory Aquino had been the subject of a series of coup attempts by military rebels. Now, five presidents and 22 years later, his son Benigno Aquino III, is the occupant of the Presidential Palace as the new President.

You may say the country has come a full circle, but not so. If you check page 8 and other pages of this issue, particularly the two pieces on EDSA’s 25th year anniversary, the political and socio-economic conditions have worsened. Poverty, hunger, joblessness, the gap between the rich and the poor, human rights violations, environmental degradation, corruption (especially in the military), crime, you name it, have deteriorated.

You will notice that over the years, this paper has covered more and more of the political upheavals in the home country and the major issues confronting the Filipino and other ethnic communities in Toronto and Canada as a whole. This is because we tried our best to make the paper serve as a mirror of the reality of the times. Any publication will not be true to its calling if it avoids or underplays the issues that seriously affect the majority of its readers.

At the same time, we wanted the paper to reflect the views of the overwhelming majority of its readers, the ordinary immigrants and citizens who live in the margins of society, those who toil long hours and yet could not make both ends meet. Many of these people have families and kin in the home country who are jobless or are barely making the minimum wage in pesos and who endure the desperate conditions of a Third World country, not to mention the hopelessness symbolized by the fact that thousands have to leave the country everyday just so they could earn to feed their families who they leave behind for many years.

But this has not been a purely political paper. For a long time we have also published stories on travel, health, environment, culture, entertainment and sports, cinema and personalities. We continue to chronicle community events and give space to community associations’ announcements. We have also covered controversies involving community centers and other local issues but we have given more space to larger issues like those involving caregivers, foreign temporary workers, labor, non-recognition of foreign professions and immigration. For us, these larger issues affect our community more profoundly than the intra-organization conflicts.

In this regard, there is a major event on April 2 called “Leaders’ Gala” featuring Manitoba’s Culture Minister Flor Marcelino, a Filipino Canadian, who will share her views on leadership and relevant issues that confront immigrants and our community. (See page 23 for details.) Don’t miss this historical event in the community.