MetroVanIndependent.com
October 2015
5
Opinion
Should I Vote for My Ethnicity in an Election?
By Luisa Marshall
I know this will disappoint a lot of my
kababayans on why I wouldn’t set aside
differences for the sake of a much hoped
for Filipino representation in Ottawa. A
few kababayans are crying for peace and
unity the past months for support and
help. Some would even plead for others
to donate to the political campaign of this
self-professed community leader, Jojo
Quimpo running as a Conservative Member
of Parliament for the Vancouver Kingsway
riding. Each time I see this, I can only shake
my head in disbelief. My spirit refuses to
be swayed by this ethnically propagated
scheme mainly targeting the soft hearts of
Filipinos.
It was my choice to migrate here from
my beloved Philippines to give my family
a brighter future so that they become
productive and be able to help themselves
and help me to help others. And that
is dead-on the Filipino way which I am
greatly proud of. But to support a Filipino
candidate just because he is Filipino is
preposterous. Especially one that does
not have the guts to stand up with his
opposition and tell us where he stands.
It's an outright insult to my 26 years of
living, working, and breathing in Canada
to support or vote a kapwa Filipino (fellow
Filipino) just because we’re all Filipinos.
Quimpo fails to show up again.
"Thanks to Tupper Secondary for hosting an
all-candidates' debate today! It is very important
to engage our youth in our democracy.
It is a shame that the Conservative candidate failed to appear AGAIN (hence the empty
chair) - so far, he has failed to appear at any of
the 3 debates he was invited to. Clearly, he is
unable to defend the Conservative record - and
unwilling to face our constituents.
In my view, any candidate who refuses to
present himself or herself to the voters to answer
their questions is unworthy of their support."
- Don Davies
Contrary to what other local
Filipino media publications
reported last week, I would firmly
say Quimpo hasn’t made a clear
STAND at all.
Contrary to what other local Filipino
media publications reported last week, I
would firmly say Quimpo hasn’t made a
clear STAND at all. He did have his chance,
but he blew it.
On September 2015, there was an allcandidates forum held by the National
Congress of Chinese Canadians for all the
4 main Canadian political parties to attend
to reveal in public what they each stand for
and answer some questions.
According to Don Davies’ Facebook
post on Jojo Quimpo, Quimpo “...
confirmed he would participate, posed for
the photo-op but then vanished when the
debate started, surprising organizers who
were left calling his name from the stage…”
According to sources, Jojo Quimpo
showed up at the meet at 9:30am with
his interpreter with him. He apparently
confirmed with organizers that he would
participate in the debate but quietly
disappeared by the time he was supposed
to sit down in front of a microphone to
answer questions in a debate with all the
other candidates. He hasn’t been seen
in any other debates in his riding that we
know of.
If Quimpo can’t stand up to a small
gathering like this, how in the world would
he react standing in front of the opposition
in the House of Commons in Ottawa?
As reported in our last newspaper,
Steve Marshall asked Jojo Quimpo
numerous times on his public Conservative
Facebook wall what his stance was on
Cyber-Bullying. Jojo Quimpo's response
was deleting Steve’s questions from his
Conservative Facebook page and then
blocking him from asking any further
questions. Why would Jojo do this?
Likely because, in our opinion, Quimpo
allowed his buddies to Cyber-Bully me on
his Facebook. You can check out www.
driven2action.com for more details.
Steve also emailed Jojo Quimpo and
asked him about the allegations from
Maevn Hauser that Jojo still owed Maevn
and or his MUSICA Society approximately
$900.00 for prizes they won at Jojo
Quimpo’s event in November 2012. I read
Jojo Quimpo smiles for the photo-op before vanishing from the forum.
Jojo Quimpo disappears before he can stand up to his opposition and let the voters know what he stands
for.
the Facebook message from Jojo Quimpo
where Quimpo stated in part “...by the
way, please tell MUSICA I did not forget
our debt. Hindi ko yan nakalimutan. I will
pay them next month. Promise…” That
“Promise” was about 35 months ago and
counting.
Steve Marshall also asked Jojo
Quimpo if he felt partly responsible for the
approximate $12,000.00 that was alleged
to be owed to Smile Travel for a bounced
check to pay for the airline tickets for his
Filipino entertainer Derek Ramsey and
entourage for Pinoy Fiesta 2011. Jojo
Quimpo told Steve in an email, “Pinoy
Buzz sponsored the popular Filipino actor
Derek Ramsey and his entourage...Pinoy
Buzz management spent a huge amount
of money”.
Allegedly, Smile Travel ended up paying
the huge amount of money for the Pinoy
Fiesta 2011 entertainment. We were told
Smile Travel never got paid the cash owed.
Jojo Quimpo became executive producer
of the Pinoy Buzz TV show. I would think
that being the President of the Pinoy Fiesta
and Producer of the Pinoy Buzz TV show
Quimpo should have some responsibility
towards the repayment of this huge amount
of money owed to a local business.
My television show Simply the Best, The
Luisa Marshall Show was the first media
to support Jojo Quimpo in the beginning
because I believed in him. But, once I got to
know him really well, my opinion changed
drastically. There are many more reasons
why I’m disappointed in Quimpo but what
I have mentioned here is relevant for now.
Ethnicity is not paramount in my
choice of a candidate. However, if a
Filipino candidate has quality of character,
integrity, courage, a proper platform and
commitment, I would be in full support of
him or her regardless of political party.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, Jojo
Quimpo does not qualify.