Posted by ReyFort Media
There is only one organization with a concrete proposal for a Filipino cultural centre in Vancouver that is moving through the City of Vancouver system.
That’s according to city hall and this organization is the Filipino Legacy Society (FLS).
FLS is the same organization that Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has endorsed to advance the development of a Filipino cultural centre on Main Street.
Sim’s chief of staff Trevor Ford has informed the community at least twice that as far as the city is concerned, it’s only FLS that has a project in progress.
Ford briefed the community on September 20 and September 27, 2025 about a Filipino cultural centre being planned by FLS and its development partner, Macario “Tobi” Reyes.
“It’s the only one in the pipeline,” Ford said, referring to the FLS-Reyes proposal.
This is means that neither of the two other organizations advocating for centre has brought to city hall a specific proposal.
These two groups are Mabuhay House Society and Filipino BC.
Mayor Sim is filing a motion in council to expedite the delivery of a Filipino cultural centre on Main Street, which is the project being advanced by FLS and Reyes.
Ford and David Grewal, a senior advisor to Mayor Sim, hosted a community meeting at city hall on September 27.
“We not picking winners or losers,” Ford said, stressing that Sim’s vision for a cultural centre will serve everyone in the community.
In the two community meetings on September 20 and September 27, Ford said that if Sim’s motion is approved, groundbreaking at the Main Street site could happen in 2026.
The cultural centre will be part of a hotel development by Reyes.
Reyes, a Vancouver developer of Filipino descent, has pledged to create an endowment to support the future cultural centre.
Reyes also promised to donate a portion of the hotel profits to the centre for its annual operations.
At the September 27 community meeting, Ford reiterated that no hotel will be built on Main Street unless it contains a Filipino cultural centre.
Reyes, for his part, explained at the same townhall that the future cultural centre will be owned by the Filipino community in perpetuity.
Trevor Ford (right), chief of staff of Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, has advised the community that no other organization except for Filipino Legacy Society has brought forward to city hall a concrete and specific proposal for a Filipino cultural centre in Vancouver. Seated are FLS directors (from left) Lorentz Sy, Christine de Castro, Socorro “Babes” Newland, Maj Yee, and Warren Dean Flandez.
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