PAC OCT 31 EDITORIAL
October 31, 2013 at 10:55am
Tsismoso ka ba?
As the Chronicle enters into its 3rd decade in newspaper publishing, I thought that nothing will surprise me anymore.
I titled this particular piece “Tsismoso ka ba?” because what started as petty tsimis (rumors) is now being blown out of proportion thanks to facebook and help from a mainstream reporter.
So, yours truly was pushed off my complacency chair enjoying my 26th year of publishing, singing in the choir on the side and fulfilling my role as a doting grandpa to my adorable grandchildren, to once again face the ugly side of community involvement.
Don’t get me wrong, “this ugly side” although time consuming, can be ignored, but I chose to address it briefly.
For those of you..who are curious enough to read along..I’m not going to disappoint you as I relate the rest of the story.
For those of you who at this point is already questioning why I’m not tackling the pork barrel issue back home or concentrating on how to help our kababayans who were victims of an earthquake in Bohol or investigating a growing concern on supposedly missing money ($800,000) from the community centre project, pasensiya na po, pa minsan minsan lang po ito.
I think the last time that I got into a fistword fight was when I was battling the oppressors of the MHHS project.
So here it goes,na biktima na naman po kaming mag asawa.
Victimized, as in used, through the newspaper.
In our life adventure as publishers, we have met so many who wants to use the paper to get popularity, get influence and some just to look good to further their ambitions or aspirations.
I got so frustrated when a front page story that my wife developed involving a realtor who supposedly was voted top realtor by a community newspaper made it to print.Nakalusot..”mabait naman siya” my wife reasoned out…”bayaan mo na lang.”
Or a newbie who started a local independence day celebration and was voted as top community leader when dozens of leaders of different associations who have worked for years to make the Philippine Independence Day celebrations in every city in the Lower Mainland did not make it as top community leader.
“Ok naman siya”, said my wife,” bayaan mo na para sipagin pa siya sa community work niya”.
Ofcourse I have to weather slide remarks from real community builders who love what they’re doing but doesnt glorify themselves in the process.
Or a sarcastic aside from a seasoned realtor who questioned why this person is on the front page of the Chronicle as top realtor when she know for a fact that the (top) realtor didn’t have a single sale for a whole year.
We attract these kind of people. They see us as the tools that they can use to achieve their ends, whether it is a political ambition, successful business or simply believing that being in the paper will give them a social status that they have been dreaming of.
Some of them tried hard enough break into our circle and became friends (or so we thought) in the process.
Slowly they started finding out that being publishers is not as glamorous as they expected as it involves painstaking hard work.
These people also found out that we are not rolling in dough, whatever monies paid to us by advertisers go to printing and materials.
“Wala naman pala silang pera,” said an opportunist, “akala ko mayaman sila!”
I wonder where they got the idea that we’re rich?
Is it because whenever they come to us for help, we managed to give something?
Just like this person who said ” akala ko mayaman sila”.
Apparently he wanted to be a part of the business that my son was starting. My son and his partners have already invested close to $120,000 in a studio they built from scratch.
This person didn’t have any cash so he volunteered his credit to buy some stuff for the studio that my son was building in exchange of being a part of the company.
The credit was so small that all they managed to get from it were little stuff for the studio. My son welcomed him and promised him that he can use the studio for rehearsals of the children that he was managing at that time.
Meanwhile, my son and his wife went to the Philippines to film footages for their tv show, with this person coming along for free.
Free airfare, pocket money to give his family in the Philippines, free hotel and free food, not once, but twice.
Perhaps they also think that we are rich because everybody who come to our house are treated to a good meal, sincere friendship and lavish hospitality, free of charge. Hindi naman po kailangang maging mayaman to share food and fellowship with everyone.
To make a long story short, the opportunist was dropped from the goodside of my son’s circle when he was caught telling lies. Naghahanap pala ito ng mayamang mga kaibigan. Obviously, he was in the wrong company. Being in the circle meant hard work and investment in time and money. The bottomline was this person created so much drama and negative vibes that they have to let him go.There were also complaints from parents of children he was supposed to be helping, issues on money, cash prizes that disappeared and was blamed on my son’s company. Are you surprise now that this opportunist is now part of the smear campaing against the Juatcos, Well, I’m not.
But wait,there is another guy, a total loser in my opinion, who came to us badmouthing another paper and it’s publishers.
My wife offered him an entertainment column where he can build his credibility.
By the way, all columnists in the Chronicle are not paid. They are volunteer writers who are allowed to promote their business, express their opinions and in the process also build a name in the community.
The sad thing is this loser cannot even write a straight sentence. My wife helped him along while he got the credit for being a new “columnist”.
This loser came one day with a sob story about a local concert promoter that allegedly didn’t pay him after he travelled all the way to Winnipeg with her.
He said that his wife was sick and cannot work. He said that he cannot meet his car payment, rent payment, etc etc.
My wife gave him $1,000 check to help him out (I still have a copy of that cheque).
What this loser did after all the help we gave him including expensive clothes from my son is truly beyond me. To think that we even tried to help him get a duplex for his family. He is now announcing how we made his life miserable and even announced on a website how bad we are. This one is not really a lost but one of the biggest surprises of my life. Pooh, pooh bear to suckers like us..oh well.
These characters are only two of the workers in a smear campaign “to bring down the Juatcos”. Caricatures who are bent to get revenge through fb and whoever /whatever outlet that will listen to their campaign.
The bulldogs in this campaign are the (top) realtor, an architect pseudo photographer ( who also fell out of grace from my son’s group, naiinis daw dahil napaalis sa stage during one Pinoy Fiesta event..but somebody also said that hindi daw kasi na suplayan ng cialis ng anak ko) and a local impersonator.
These 3 people, esp the realtor, started digging, public document of court cases from more than 12 years ago were resurrected, she talked to our creditors, spread emails about our “badness” all over town (we have copies stating clearly where the emails are coming from) but what really jolted me out of my complacency, was when she started talking to the advertisers of this newspaper.
Our advertisers are the reason for being of this newspaper. Without them the service that we’ve been providing the community will not prosper at all.
Some of the professionals in this paper have been with the Chronicle since they opened their clinics or offices.
I know that I owe them an explanation on the things that are being spread around.
And we will be going to them to clarify the issues.
Meanwhile, here are some points to consider.
We don’t owe Nellie Vandt. If anything, she owes us for all the many full page advertisements which she got for less than half of what she should pay for all her promos. She got all the discounts and write ups after she befriended us.
All the money that she has given this paper are payments for her many advertisements.
We don’t owe Ellen Sarmiento.
She used this newspaper to promote the Arnel Pineda concert.
The concert used 7 full page ads worth $900 each.
We paid for the ryder of the artists $3,000.00
Paid for the hotel of Mr Pineda & band:$2,000.00
Paid for the souvenir program: $2,500 printing, labor graphics/layout: $1,200.00
Collected 17 major ads for $1,000 each.
The deal for this concert is that my son’s company will be paid 30% share of the tickets sold win or lose.
And yes, there is a written agreement.
The deal for the ads was for the Chronicle to get 20% commission on every ad that we gave the concert.
Not a single cent was paid to my son’s company, Pinoy Buzz Vancouver. My son and his wife worked for 2 months promoting the Arnel Pineda concert. They paid for their own gas, food, meetings and the volunteers.
When my son found out that I was trying to pay Sarmiento with postdated cheques for the money Sarmiento said my son owes her, he told me not to honor the cheques.
Who is the victim here?
Sarmiento and Vandt have used the paper and our influence to make money off of us.
The nerve to turn the table on us and to say that we are using our influence “to prey on people.”
Hindi po libre and printing.
It will take several advertising dollars to pay for 1 printing.
Yung pong mga private loans namin hwag nyo ng pakikialaman, unless you can pay for them.
Yun pong nag publish at sumama sa mga “smeares” pasensiyahan na lang po sabi po ng abogado nakuha na raw po nyo ang payment nyo ng sirain nyo kami.
And nandito pa po ang isang “tsismis”, galit daw po pala sa amin yung realtor dahil “natalo”siya ng tumakbo sa nomination nong last election. Alam ko po wala kaming business dealings nito, As a matter of fact, she came along with us to high calibre events to meet “rich people”. And she used the paper for all her advertorials promoting her business. Eh bakit nagalit?!!!
I’m sorry..yes, we did not help her, but we also didnot discredit her.
I guess that when we stopped publishing her, nobody heard about her anymore except for her circle who can’t even vote in Surrey.
Eh kahit po saang bolilya ng jueteng nyo tignan, masasabi na kailangan grassroots ang service mo..hindi pwedeng boboto mo lang ang sarili mo as top this and top that.
Voters are smart enough to know those who have selflessly given them selves with no hidden agenda to this community.
Kung naloko mo kami once, hanggang duon na lang yon. There is another paper who are also “tsismoso” who can probably find merit in your ambitions…ta ta!
Hindi po ba interesting ang mga nangyayaring ito?
Let me make it clear, we will not stop helping people who come to us for assistance.
We will not stop from writing about the noble goals of the dozens of associations and leaders in our community.
After all, this is how we have grown so much in the past years.
Because we lifted up community members who are selfless, they become more inspired to dedicate time meant to be spent with their families to building our community.
These associations know that they can come to us anytime. Their photos and stories will be printed free of charge, as always.
In our book, they are the story because they are my community.
Bodeng Juatco
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