{"id":5554,"date":"2014-03-30T19:30:18","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T11:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=5554"},"modified":"2014-03-30T21:19:53","modified_gmt":"2014-03-30T13:19:53","slug":"filipino-canadian-in-focus-manny-yanga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/03\/30\/filipino-canadian-in-focus-manny-yanga\/","title":{"rendered":"Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Manny Yanga"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Filipino-Canadian<\/a>
Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Yanga from Ward 7.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

People often say religion and politics don\u2019t mix. But for Emmanuel \u201cManny\u201d Yanga, the two sectors of society work together just fine.<\/p>\n

Leaving a life behind<\/h6>\n

Manny\u2019s family moved to Canada on February 1994.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy only brother, a family doctor in Toronto, was instrumental for my family’s migration in February 1994,\u201d Manny recalled.<\/p>\n

His brother\u2019s busy schedule between the hospital and family clinic made it difficult for him to look after their parents who also migrated to Canada in 1985, as well as visit Manny\u2019s family in the Philippines. His hectic schedule moved him to ask Manny and his family to join him in Canada and stay with their parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, in 1992 he phoned and asked if we can come over and be with our parents,\u201d Manny shared. \u201cIt took us more than a year to fully decide\u2026 It was a real tough decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an employee of a corporate giant for 18 years and with their children still attending school (two daughters, 9 and 14 years young at that time), the decision to move to a foreign land didn\u2019t come easy.<\/p>\n

Manny knows greener and better pastures await them in Canada, but leaving their life in the Philippines wasn\u2019t easy to do.<\/p>\n

Back then even Manny\u2019s eldest son wasn\u2019t ready to leave everything behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy eldest son, who works for television and the movies, decided to be left behind when we came,\u201d he said. \u201cI should say [that\u2019s] the best decision he made.\u201d<\/p>\n

His eldest son became one of the most \u201csought-after scriptwriters for primetime shows and TV commercials.\u201d Today, Manny\u2019s proud to say that his son is now a very successful man.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is currently the Vice-President of the company they established with his 4 colleagues in the business for other TV stations and corporate events of big companies as well for ads and movie commercials,\u201d he beamed.<\/p>\n

Bigger challenges<\/h6>\n

Leaving the place where one grew up, fell in love, and built a life is never easy. In spite of homesickness, Manny and his family did their best to overcome the obstacles they faced in their new home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe change in culture and climate were the differences that almost changed our plan and [almost went back] to Manila a year after,\u201d Manny confessed.<\/p>\n

The differences in culture and the extreme weather situations in Canada almost broke their will, but they together they stood and stayed. But there was a bigger challenge ahead.<\/p>\n

At some point after moving to Canada, their younger son decided to go back to the Philippines to take a pre-medical course for two years.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] made my wife worry because our two young daughters look up to my son for help going around Toronto,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

Being far away from his son caused some distress, but thankfully\u2014just two weeks before his son\u2019s immigrant status expired\u2014they got a call from him saying that he\u2019s going back to Canada for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the turning point,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cI attributed it to our family prayers and my son\u2019s love for his younger sisters and us\u2014his parents\u2026 That drew him to come back to Canada for good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like most Filipino-Canadians, Manny still has relatives in the Philippines whom he misses terribly. However, when we asked him what he missed the most about his home country, Manny answered with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things I missed most are the people, the sumptuous authentic Filipino food, the fresh fruits, and the beautiful and fascinating vacation resorts,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n

\"Manny<\/a>
Manny Yanga at the OLA \u201cLift high \u201c concert with Sen. Enverga and members of the clergy and OLA Knights of Columbus. Photo courtesy of Manny Yanga.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
From faith to power<\/h6>\n

In his community, both in the Philippines and in Toronto, Manny is known as a man of faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing very active way back in the Philippines, I was exposed to a lot of social, civic and religious organizations then,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was active then with Rotary Club of Cubao East as Club Secretary, Charter President of Manila Buklod-Bayan Lions Club and Manila Bisig-Bayan Lions Club in Mendiola and Morayta, Manila,\u201d he enumerated. \u201cAt the same time, [I\u2019m] an active leader of Couples for Christ Catholic Charismatic prayer group and the Knights of Columbus – Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Council in Antipolo where we hold monthly medical and dental services to poor kababayans<\/i> in the community. [I was also] a Euchristic Minister and a Lector-slash-Commentator at Sunday masses at the Antipolo Church Cathedral.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, after living for 20 years in Canada, he decided to run for local office. So, why the switch from church to politics?<\/p>\n

\u201cActually it goes hand in hand,\u201d he said about faith and public office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you meet people in the church, it’s more likely almost always the very same people you’d come to serve in the community. In essence, it’s doing the same kind of service just in a different country,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

His faith led him to serve the people in his community as a member of the church. Now, Manny is campaigning to be a TCDSB Trustee of Ward 7 North York \u2013 Scarborough.<\/p>\n

As a Filipino, he wants to instill a specific Pinoy trait to his community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Filipino trait I want to teach and remain in the hearts of all Filipinos is the bayanihan <\/i>spirit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The bayanihan<\/i> spirit\u2014coupled by his strong faith\u2014fuels Manny to do more and do better for his community.<\/p>\n

When asked about his campaign platform, he came up with a straightforward answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy campaign platform is pretty simple: To bring back and keep our Catholic faith, teachings, and culture in Catholic Schools,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids [should] learn the value of being a true, practicing Catholic. We need to uphold the basic teachings of the Catholic Church no matter what [the] circumstances may be,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The elections for TCDSB Trustees will be on October 27, 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People often say religion and politics don\u2019t mix. But for Emmanuel \u201cManny\u201d Yanga, the two sectors of society work together …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":5559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1497,1498,1499,1500],"class_list":["post-5554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-filipino-canadian-in-focus","tag-emmanuel-yanga","tag-manny-yanga","tag-tdcsb","tag-ward-7","mauthors-ching-dee","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}