(This article is in our opinion only and based on facts that we have compiled. Any allegations and opinions put forward have not been proven in any court of law.)

Will we stand up and do something?

by STEVEN ALLAN MARSHALL

I’m glad that some Filipino Canadian Citizens have decided to stand up and tell the world about the alleged unfortunate things that they say happened to them on Nellie Vandt’s site www.nellievandt.com. It took a lot of courage for these people to tell their stories. Some of them have lived with these issues in solitude for many years. Some felt embarrassed, disgraced, most were scared to come forward. Most people told me that nobody cared.

Filipino community leaders, business people, Filipino media, friends and associates of these people talked in the shadows about what happened to them and others in the Filipino community. They heard of some unfortunate experiences that happened to some members in the community whom they know but they would still turn a blind eye as if nothing happened. They would still support the same people they once condemned. Those that could do the most turned their backs on them. Why do we do that? I’m guilty of the same thing in some ways. I personally didn’t believe a lot of what I heard until we ourselves became a target at one point. We ignored the stories and thought if we remained positive it would fix everything. But it didn’t. That is when I started to do my research and go back and ask people if the stories I heard are true. They would gladly tell me what happened and show me their evidence. That was the turning point for me.

Luisa Marshall and myself have been openly supporting anyone that has been bullied, attacked or scammed in any way. Because of our TV show Simply The Best the Luisa Marshall Show victims would call Luisa many times at all times of the day or night. At one time, a Filipino Nanny spoke to Luisa for hours about the abuses she was enduring from her employer. This nanny saw Luisa on TV and thought she was the person that could help her. We went to the house of her employer in the middle of the night and rescued her. We took her to safety. Once we made it known where we stand on any of these issues many individuals have come to us with their stories and showed us what evidence they have. My first question to each and every one of them was “what if someone before you told their story would that have helped your decisions?” I get a 100% yes every time. Their stories need to be told.It is not easy standing up to make change. You will get attacked. Regardless we chose to do so. We have been cyber bullied, talked about in negative ways but that will not stop us. As a matter of fact this made us more committed to stand up and make a change.

I feel the attacks that came against Luisa personally in numerous ways are in part a result of this. There are stories that we have “an agenda”, that we “formed a group” to go against certain groups of people in this community. I will tell you the people that we are associated with are alleged victims that came to us for help. There was no group formed to cause trouble. We were brought together by necessity. This is why we know them. We actually do have an agenda. That is to stop any abuse . We have nothing personal to gain.

In my opinion, my following story is just one of the things that happened to us that I want everyone to know about with the hope we can help stop these attacks. I hope this will make people think twice before they get involved in this type of behaviour and encourage more victims to speak out. This is a story of cyber bullying.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF a community leader started a public Facebook thread that in my opinion allowed a group of his friends and associates to:

• Cyberbully your loved one (your spouse, child, relative or friend). Posting unsubstantiated remarks about your loved one while even belittling and laughing at your loved one’s humble choice of occupation.
• Make unsubstantiated remarks against the credibility of your business which is geared towards community service.
• Refer to a friend of yours who happens to be openly gay with homophobic slurs.

What would you do? Would you ignore this? Would you do nothing about it, keep quiet and hide in fear? I decided that I would take action and stand up for those I love and care about.

I’m writing this letter and putting it online to share my personal experience of the “unfounded allegations” against myself, my wife and my friend from within the Filipino Canadian community in Vancouver, BC.

I’m releasing this site and letter now because the main person that facilitated this cyberbullying Facebook thread is now running for Federal MP.

I got to thinking HOW COULD A PERSON THAT ALLOWED CYBERBULLYING ON HIS PUBLIC FACEBOOK WALL AGAINST MY FAMILY, BUSINESS AND OTHERS BE NOW RUNNING FOR A CONSERVATIVE MP? Click here for Francisco “Jojo” Quimpo’s Conservative Nomination Facebook page.

I ACTUALLY WROTE EVERYTHING IN THIS LETTER 9 MONTHS AGO BUT DECIDED NOT TO RELEASE IT THEN. THAT WAS A MISTAKE. THAT WAS MY MISTAKE. I MAY HAVE HELPED SOMEONE ELSE IF I POSTED IT BACK THEN.

I warn the readers that this letter is exceptionally long because there are so many things that concerned me that I need to address and clarify accordingly.

This all started on the Facebook thread titled HYPOCRISY ANNOYS ME PEOPLE NEED TO LOOK INTO MIRRORS started by Francisco “Jojo” Quimpo on his Facebook wall. In his post he writes “seriously funny…truth hurts for the guilty but its fun for the innocent.” accompanied by an uploaded photo of a cat looking into a mirror.

OVERVIEW OF WHAT HAPPENED

Jojo Quimpo tagged approximately 26 people with his Facebook post and garnered over 115 comments. Below is the main things I have concerns about.

Around February 7th, 2013, my daughter Zenia (who was 13 years old at the time) went to her mother with her eye’s watering looking very upset. Zenia pointed out a Facebook thread that she viewed on her computer coming from Jojo Quimpo’s FB wall which mentioned her mother by name, called her mother a “looser”, criticized her mother’s line of work.

Numerous people were tagged, joined in, commented or liked Jojo Quimpo’s thread including Pinoy Buzz, Roque Juatco Jr., NRyan Ferrer, Theresa Victorino Ferrer, Romeo Gabriola Torres, Marcelita Zamora Torres, Phebe Jacobsen, Liza Lopez, CJ Lacaba, James Valiant, Shee Zam, Manila Olongapo Canada and Joey (Pacis) Albert to name a few.

Early in the thread, Roque Juatco Jr. makes a remark stating “Ya lets go to Vegas where all the Impersonators perform, and enjoy and laugh at them , cuz that’s what’s happening here pretty much …. We are laughing at these jokers , we shld just call them out by name so people can really know who these waste of time people are ….”

This is when I first suspected that Jojo Quimpo’s malicious Facebook thread appeared in part to be aimed at my wife Luisa.

Roque (Rocky) Juatco Jr. then posted:

“Seriously you choose a Career to be an Impersonator? That means you’re a copy of someone else, so really what does that say about you? Lack of Creativity, no Originality …Come on seriously, we do what we do for the good of our community, Why are these people doing what theyre doing ?

Just to make a name because know one knows who they are!!!”

This statement appears to be calling down everyone and anyone who has chosen a career as an impersonator or tribute artist. In my opinion, Roque Juatco Jr. is saying this directly at my wife who is a world renowned Tribute Artist.

Shortly, thereafter, Roque Juatco Jr. stated in another comment responding to Marigold Goldie Bugayong Castro specifically naming Luisa. To me, this pretty well confirms he is talking about my wife.

Rocque Juatco Jr comments:

“Ya Goldie, Luisa Marshall has been calling ppl and sending emails, slandering our name, as a matter of fact 4 years ago before any of the bs..her and her husband invited Jojo to dinner before we were close, and told him to stay away from us? Stay away from us why? For what reason, she continued to talk about my parents being bad people..All these things being said and we haven’t even met this person.. Keep in mind that’s 4 years ago when we first started our TV show.. How Convenient.. up until now….still talking to people and we have witnesses and a few pm as proof too. Going on in public like she’s trying to protect the community yet in her msg she says she has nothing to do with the community but her show so really what does that tell you”

I do remember this dinner with Mr. Jojo Quimpo and the initial reason for the meeting had nothing to do with the Juatcos. The real reason for the meeting was to convince Jojo Quimpo to stop the Facebook post he did which started a thread from his friends which appeared to attack a well known media personality and to collaborate with Rey Fortaleza and his Reyfort Media Group on the next Pinoy Fiesta. Luisa never said anything about the Juatcos I was the one that told Jojo to his face to watch himself because we were also warned by many leaders in the community to stay away from them.

Mr. Juatco Jr. seems to conveniently forget that we met before they even started their TV show Pinoy Buzz. We were the ones who actually gave our airtime to Pinoy Buzz for the 9:30pm to 10:00pm time slot. Initially, we had the Monday night airtime from 9:00pm to 10:00pm for 10 weeks prior to their first airing of Pinoy Buzz. I even filmed the Pinoy Buzz pilot segment at Kentizen Restaurant for Janice Lozano and Roque Juatco Jr. Roque even came over to my house himself to pick up the DVD copy of what I filmed. I did all of this for free at no expense to them. We supported them and their TV show Pinoy Buzz up until Janice allowed her friends to start a Facebook attack aimed at our TV show in early 2010. The fact is this post on Janice Lozano’s Facebook wall in 2010 started the issues between us. (See more on My Thoughts, Experience and Opinion on Janice Lozano’s Actions page)

Back to Jojo Quimpo’s public Facebook thread HYPOCRISY ANNOYS ME PEOPLE NEED TO LOOK INTO MIRRORS… Romeo Gabriola Torres was tagged… he liked and commented on this thread by writing:

“WTF Luisa Marshall calling ppl sending emails Brainwashing ppl minds haha isa ring nag-kakalat ng tsismis sa community what a Looser. Hahaha its so funny may initerview siyang Gay sa show niya at lakas at kapal ng mukha na nabubully daw siya at nabiktima ng scam daw. Hahaah ni wala namang Kaso at pulis report ni wala ngang dimandahan bwhahaha na Puro DRAMA lang iyon..Bwahahaha I remember nuong nagwowork pa ito sa Pinoy Buzz Eh siya itong numerunong mang bubully sa show mo na STB. Bago kamag-paquest sa show mo check mo muna ang background ng iinterviewhin mo Luisa M. dahil siya mismo ang kritiko ng show mo nuon ng nasa bakuran siya ng Pinoy Buzz infact ang Gay na ito maraming ding taong galit dito at mga magulang dahil so mean at unpleasant makiharap sa mga estudyante niya malakas pang mang-bully hahaaha funny coz pilit niyang pinaniniwala na nabubully siya Hahahaha. Itong Baklang ito ay numeru-unong mambubully rin.Akala mo kung sinong malinis ang pangalan.Kaya Luisa M. dapat mo ng palitan ang title ng show mong walang nanonood na SIMPLY THE BEST LIAR.“

Below is a Filipino to English translation that was done for me. 
(This was translated by some people in the Filipino community. It is hard to translate from Tagalog to English word for word but I am told that this is the closest translation.)

WTF Luisa Marshall calling ppl sending emails Brainwashing ppl minds haha one who also spreads rumor in the community what a Looser. Hahaha its so funny she interviewed a Gay in her show and what a thick face to say he’s being bullied and a scam victim apparently. Hahaah, theres not even a case and police report, not even a demand/court case, bwhahaha… those are pure drama… Bwhahaha, I remember when ‘this’ (referring to Maeven as “this”) is still working at Pinoy Buzz, he is the first person who was bullying your show STB. Before you guest somebody in your show check first the background of your guest Luisa M. because he himself was the critic of your show when he was still involved with Pinoy Buzz. In fact many people and parents are mad with this Gay because he is so mean and unpleasant to his students and a strong bully, hahaha, funny because hes making people believe he’s being bullied, Hahahaha. This Gay is a number one bully also. As if he is somebody who has a clean name/good reputation. That’s why Luisa M., you should change the title of your show which nobody watches to SIMPLY THE BEST LIAR.

I was very surprised that no one on this FB thread made a stand against Romeo Gabriola Torres’ demeaning and homophobic rant, nor did anyone make a stand against Jojo Quimpo for allowing Romeo’s homophobic rant on his public Facebook wall. The person referred to as “this Gay” by Romeo Gabriola Torres is Maevn Hauser who was one of the original founders of Pinoy Pride Vancouver. In addition to this, Maevn has already told his alleged story of what Janice Lozano and Roque Juatco Jr. did to him.

Link to Maevn Hauser’s alleged unfortunate experience with Janice Lozano and Roque Juatco Jr. involving more than $15,000 on nellievandt.com. Click Here.

One quote from Mr Romeo Gabriola Torres stuck out with me. “It ain’t big to make others feel small” he says.

Mr. Torres you involve yourself in a picture like this just after you cyberbullied Luisa publicly online? That is what I call a HYPOCRITE. (See more on My Thoughts, Experience and Opinion on Romeo Gabriola Torres’ Actions page)

The title “Hypocrisy annoys me, people need to look into mirrors” appears like a noble statement until you realize some members of this closely knit group is attacking some unnamed people at first and then later names only Luisa and one other person.

After leaving this massive cyberbullying thread on his Facebook wall for what appears to be around 19 days (from around February 6th, 2013 to February 24th, 2013), Jojo Quimpo completely deletes the entire thread then write a new post “ANTI BULLYING DAY IS WEDNESDAY” (February 27), My Thoughts”…

However, in my opinion, the damage had already been done with his public cyberbullying thread “Hypocrisy annoys me, people need to look into mirrors” with 26 people tagged, around 32 likes and over 115 comments. Jojo Quimpo’s thread had serious implications aimed at my wife, Luisa, and our TV show, Simply the Best. I was preparing to respond on Jojo’s wall when suddenly he unfriended me. Since I could not respond to anything on his wall, I sent a message to anyone who was tagged by Jojo Quimpo, or commented or liked his thread.

CLICK HERE to view a copy of the letters I sent to those who were tagged by Jojo Quimpo, or commented or liked his cyberbullying thread.

The following day after Jojo Quimpo posted “ANTI BULLYING DAY IS WEDNESDAY (February 27), My Thoughts”…., Pinoy Buzz uploaded a video on YouTube called “ANTI-BULLYING CAMPAIGN AD”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVebAFo7MtI
Watch Pinoy Buzz’s Anti-Bullying Campaign Ad featuring Jojo Quimpo, Janice Lozano and NRyan Ferrer, Romeo Gabriola Torres, James Valiant, CJ Lacaba and Jayson Dela Cruz. FROM WHAT I CAN SEE THE VIDEO HAS NOW BEEN MADE PRIVATE.

I find it absolutely HYPOCRITICAL that a group comes together and attacks someone on a public Facebook wall thread for the whole world to see for weeks then conveniently takes it down a few days before ANTI-BULLYING DAY and then puts up a new thread lecturing about bullying.

Coincidentally, most of the group that joined into this Facebook thread are close associates, supporters and friends with Francisco “Jojo” Quimpo including Janice Lozano and Roque Juatco Jr. from Pinoy Buzz and the main members of his Hirit Team.

This entire site was written and almost finished when Pinoy Buzz Tv show finally came back on air after over a year. The interesting thing is some people that were involved in Jojo Quipmpo’s HYPOCRISY ANNOYS ME Facebook page are now involved in Pinoy Buzz TV. Francisco (Jojo) Quimpo is now the executive producer. Jayson Dela Cruz is a co-host in Pinoy Buzz. James Valiant is a co-host in Pinoy Buzz. CJ Lacaba is a cameraman for Pinoy Buzz.

FOR THE RECORD: Luisa made it public many months ago that we will not support any event that involves Jojo Quimpo, Janice Lozano and Roque Juatco Jr. of Pinoy Buzz, and Jojo Quimpo’s Hirit Team. In the past, we fully supported Jojo Quimpo, Janice Lozano and Roque (Rocky) Juatco Jr. on their events and projects and we fully trusted them. We’re so disappointed that after all we’ve done for them, most especially Jojo Quimpo, this is how they treated us.

To Mr. Quimpo: I certainly consider that what you’ve started, allowed and promoted on your public Facebook wall is the very same thing that you claim annoys you: HYPOCRISY.

Writing this letter and putting it online was a difficult and stressful decision (as I know it would affect my family), but I felt as if I had no other choice. I needed to stand up against certain “community leaders” and share my unfortunate experience with the public in hopes that we as a community will work together and no longer tolerate this type of vicious and damaging behaviour in the future.

Will you stand up in the future?

Thank you for reading.

 

Sincerely,

Steve Marshall

 

The following link shows screen shots and updates of Jojo Quimpo’s “Hypocrisy annoys me, people need to look into mirrors.” Facebook Thread.
Link: Screen Shots and Updates of Jojo Quimpo’s “Hypocrisy annoys me, people need to look into mirrors.” Facebook Thread

An Open Letter: To Anyone Who Liked or Commented on Francisco “Jojo” Quimpo’s Cyberbullying Facebook Post

Footnotes:

It’s important that I comment on the relationship between myself and some of the individuals that participated in Jojo Quimpo’s cyberbullying thread “Hypocrisy annoys me, people need to look in mirrors.” so that it may shed some light on why they participated.

FRANCISCO “JOJO” QUIMPO – For those of you who don’t know Francisco “Jojo” Quimpo, he is best known as the chairman of the Hirit Team, founding member of Pinoy Fiesta. I’ve been told he is the founder of Pinoy Rock Entertainment (PRE) and Hirit Production. As shown on his facebook he works as a paralegal at Davis LLP, a legal company. Jojo Quimpo is also one of 60,000 DIAMOND JUBILEE recipients across Canada and is now the Executive Producer of Pinoy Buzz with host Janice Lozano.
Click Here to see more about what I need to say about Jojo Quimpo…

JANICE LOZANO – For those that don’t know Janice Lozano, she is one of the producers of the defunct TV show called Pinoy Buzz (as of this writing) that originally aired on Shaw Multicultural Channel 116 at 9:30pm after our show. The show has not been on air or in production on Shaw 116 for over a year since mid July 2012. (Up to now Sept 14/2013)
Click Here to see more about what I need to say about Janice Lozano…

ROQUE JUATCO JR. – Roque Juatco Jr. is the husband of Janice Lozano and the son of Erly and Bodeng Juatco of the Philippine Asian Chronicle Newspaper. He is also involved with Pinoy Buzz. I have a lot of issues with the comments posted by Roque Juatco Jr. on Jojo’s Facebook wall.
Click Here to see more about what I need to say about Roque Juatco Jr….

ROMEO GABRIOLA TORRES – Romeo Gabriola Torres, I’m disappointed in you the most in this thread. First of all, we have no history or issues with you in any way. I don’t know you at all. I’ve never heard of you. But here you are jumping into a rage of posts cyber attacking Luisa and Maevn Hauser. Yes, Mr. Torres, Maevn Hauser is this man’s name. It is despicable that you refer to him as that gay guy.
Click Here to see more about what I need to say about Romeo Gabriola Torres…

DISCLAIMER
Information on this site is based on my own personal experience and opinions and has not been proven in court at this time.