~ “The land of the free and home of the brave” lies just south of Canada. America’s proximity, however, seems to fail to rub on some people in Toronto’s Filipino community who’d rather live in the Dark Ages. It’s not an exaggeration because self-appointed thought police are roaming around community organizations where censorship is most unlikely to happen – a local press club and an alumni association that sprung from graduates of the university best known as the bastion of free thinking and liberalism.
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The censor’s sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression. – Earl Warren
TORONTO – It didn’t dawn on me until lately.
The good-natured Ray Sabatin told friends that he could no longer post messages in his e-group, the University of the Philippines Alumni Association of Toronto, where he’s a long-time member. Apparently, he was unsubscribed, the cyber language for being kicked out, on somebody else’s initiative.
At about the same time, Tess Cusipag, publisher and editor of Balita newspaper, complained that her ability to reach out to members of Philippine Press Club Ontario through its email system has been disabled, a fact she blamed on the PPCO leadership.
Previously, both Ray and Tess (who’s also a UPAA member with late husband Ruben Cusipag) have been left out in the cold, unable to interact with their friends and colleagues in the same UPAA e-group.
I can not believe, nor would I accept, that such insidious instances of repression would happen – and they did happen – in these associations in a country steeped in the exercise of basic freedoms like freedom of expression, freedom of thought, etc.
Ray and Tess are far from being like Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and many other whistleblowers, but they are like them in many respects. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiPlBVYorRo).
I don’t think Ray has put the security of Canada in jeopardy by simply articulating his thoughts on the Filipino community of Toronto. Similarly, Tess has not compromised anything by posting remarks in the UPAA and PPCO e-groups.
The glaring fact is that the two are vocal, highly-opinionated individuals who are honest with their thoughts and who deliver them with such candour as to put many people ill at ease. They are straight shooters, though sometimes they shoot from the hip.
Why were they excluded?
PPCO was a free-wheeling organization of media practitioners. That was my impression when journalists Tenny Soriano and Paul de la Cruz were the president succeeding each other. As soon as Tenny and Paul were gone, PPCO became more social than a media club.
Two ex-presidents, briefly after Tenny and Paul later, PPCO emerged as a combination picnic and social club, its members shepherded by suspected communist Hermie Garcia to where the grass is greener and friendlier (as in Niagara-on-the-Lake) and to where politics appears like a throwback to Chairman Mao.
At its most basic, a press club is the advocacy arm of the Fourth Estate, zealously guarding the free and unrestrained practice of the freedom of the press and freedom of expression. By its nature, it stands against any form of censorship. (Related video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMzbwHcG0-w).
But by banishing Tess Cusipag from internet access, PPCO has built a wall to effectively muzzle her. Not surprising that that will happen since she’s been critical of the questionable manner Hermie Garcia is running the organization. Is he in fact trying to silence legitimate concerns of members? (Full story: http://www.balita.ca/2013/05/harbinger-of-death-of-press-freedom-in-toronto/).
As soon as he took office on the strength of 17 votes (out of 47 members), Tess issued a warning to him to not use PPCO to secure government grants. A week ago, she enjoined individual members not to allow him to expend PPCO funds in procuring a sound system for $500. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4vVh6sZsPc).
It’s not clear where the equipment would be bought, or if there’s even a need for it. However, knowing that Hermie Garcia is a walking convenience store – the local version of the so-called “bombay” in the Philippines who loan out goods and money at highly-usurious rates – it’s not entirely impossible that it would be locally sourced.
Hawking is unadulterated capitalism yet Hermie Garcia seems to have his sympathies with the left and hides it under the cloak of social justice. He and his wife Mila Garcia had been jailed on Philippine government suspicion of being communists. Capitalism and communism practiced at the same time? That’s the dichotomy there.
But I digress.
As I was saying earlier, Ray Sabatin is a peacemaker whose sincere ways make him a standout in a crowd of double-dealers.
I encountered his name in the many jovial and somber email exchanges and discussions about issues in the community. No matter what mood everybody was in, he’s been consistently espousing peace, respect and understanding.
One of his postings on the UPAA website was a suggestion to protagonists and antagonists in the current imbroglio – all friends of his – to engage in face-to-face conversation over a cup of coffee or a bottle of beer.
It struck me when I read it. The dominant exchanges forwarded to me were about individuals and their thoughts, plus muddled wisecracks and evasive commentaries that basically beat around the bush.
That’s where I found these persons who may be called the thought police or the censors masking as concerned citizens. One is a known bully who cajoles, threatens and makes empty boasts. Another is a career brainwasher, a fence-sitter who stays in the sidelines almost incognito.
Ray defuses the tension with his down-to-earth homilies, making for easier communications. He’s one guy that does not put on airs and graces and has the kind of disposition that relaxes. It boggles the mind why UPAA would shut him out of the loop.
Canada may not be “the land of the free and home of the brave” but the country is just as well as its neighbor to the south. Why do the thought police linger in our midst? Are they afraid of their own shadows?