Vancouver city council delays vote on B.C.’s first Filipino cultural centre

Vancouver City Council was expected to vote on a motion to establish a Filipino cultural centre in the city on Wednesday, but this did not happen.

The decision to advance B.C.’s first Filipino cultural centre was referred at city hall, with Mayor Ken Sim introducing the motion in a council meeting that lasted over eight hours.

Nearly 200 people spoke in front of council to express their thoughts on the centre, expressing overwhelming support.

However, some said they were concerned about the proposed developer and its properties.

Filipino community not happy with PortLiving as the proposed developer

The centre’s proposed location is at the site of two properties on Main Street. They are currently owned by real estate development firm PortLiving, which is facing foreclosure proceedings involving these properties.

At the meeting, PortLiving CEO Tobi Reyes said he acknowledges his past “trials and tribulations.”

“We’ve repaid more than $400 million worth of indebtedness in the last few years, and we have also taken care of all the property tax issues on the site and are now speaking in earnest with our construction lenders to make sure this promise becomes a reality,” Reyes said.

In the past, he had said his company was in the process of settling the foreclosure.

The Filipino Seniors Club of BC (FSCBC) was originally in support of the motion but pulled out Tuesday, saying, “the rapid time is unrealistic,” and it wants a standalone cultural centre.

Communications director Bert Morelos is an experienced architect and designed the Filipino Plaza — the only dedicated Filipino space in the city — back in 1986.

“It takes about 8-12 years for the developer to recover what [Reyes] spent on the hotel,” he said.

The Mabuhay House Society (MHS), a non-profit organization that is working with the B.C. government in creating a Filipino cultural centre, says it rejects the motion.

MHS says it was in talks with Tobi Reyes about another property in Cambie back in 2022, but this fell through.

“We did not actually go through with that,” said Lester De Guzman, board chair of MHS.

“So we have concerns now moving forward, because there are a few public documents … about the foreclosure of that property.”

Filipino BC, a non-profit community group, proposed its own Filipino cultural centre in Vancouver last September. The group also rejects the city’s motion.

In a scrum outside city hall, RJ Aquino, board chair of Filipino BC, said he is asking for “truth and transparency” regarding the financial standing of the proposed developer.

“Why are we wanting to have any kind of risk associated? With the project as significant and as meaningful as this for the community, why do we want to even entertain bringing any kind of risk to that?”

Sim says he was not aware of the site’s foreclosure and had no dealings with the developer personally.

He says this motion is intended to accelerate the process to build a Filipino cultural centre and that the developer would need to go through a rigorous process.

The council ordered staff to prioritize the review of the project to take the community feedback into consideration.

They voted to have the motion pushed to the Standing Committee on City Finance and Services meeting Dec. 10.