Accidental journalist
Charmaine Rodriguez
In time for the celebration of Philippine Heritage Month this year, members of the Filipino-Canadian community launched a book that explored their identities, experiences, histories, presents, and futures, and serves to re-enforce their cultural contributions.
Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing is edited by our very own Philippine Canadian News Editor-in-Chief Teodoro Alcuitas, together with playwright and author C. E. Gatchalian and poet Patria Rivera. It is the first commercially published anthology of Filipino Canadian writing
“Since first arriving on Canada’s shores over 150 years ago, Filipinos have contributed invaluably — though too often invisibly — to the fabric of Canadian society,” says a promo of the book by publisher Cormorant Books of Toronto.
The book’s contributors include emerging as well as published authors including among others: Jim Agapito, Hari Alluri, Jennilee Austria, Mila Bongco-Philipzig, Davey Samuel Calderon, Shirley Camia, Adrian de Leon, Nathalie De Los Santos, Kawika Guillermo, Marc Perez, Leah Ranada, Steffy Tad-y, Renato Gandia and Vincent Ternida.
According to the editors, there were close to a 100 submissions when the call came out two years ago. Of these, 49 contributors were selected for the book.
It’s now available for pre-ordering at Amazon.com and other booksellers. The paperback will be distributed starting October 2023.
Alcuitas’ own story
Alcuitas calls himself an accidental journalist who found a love for writing while feeling “lost” as an immigrant in a new country.
Born in Carcar City in Cebu, he was an architect by profession when he migrated to Canada in 1968. with his wife (also an architect) and their 8-month old baby girl.
He was doing life insurance sales in Winnipeg when his heart started yearning for news from the Philippines.
At a time when there was no Internet yet, the idea of a Filipino newspaper in Canada became a reality really fast for Alcuitas and his brother-in-law Florentino “Flor” Cadigal Jr., who was an English teacher, so they started a community paper. Artist Ric Sumaling provided art direction the publication.
The birth of ‘Silangan’
The tabloid became a sensation.
However, after its operations folded in 1982, Alcuitas decided to park his pen.
But when Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino was assassinated in 1983, Alcuitas went back to publishing again, covering the events that unfolded in the Motherland.
He went on to advocate for other issues, like racialized reporting, and scored a major victory for the Filipino community.
In 1992, Alcuitas and his family moved to Vancouver and wrote for the Philippine Chronicle and eventually became its editor.
He then moved to the Philippine Asian News Today as senior editor.
In December 2014, Alcuitas started his own online paper PhilippineCanadianNews.Com which covers the Filipino Canadian diaspora, which the Filipino ethnic media in Canada was not doing at that time.
“Today, at 83 years old, I am still doing what I love to do: telling and sharing the stories of our community,” Alcuitas said.
(His story is included in the anthology).
