Friday, August 4, 2017

Pinoy Restaurant in NY Closes, After Customers Bashed Owner for Being a Staunch Duterte Supporter

Payag Restaurant, a well-known Filipino restaurant in Roosevelt Ave., Queens, New York since 2010 has closed down, and is now for sale. This is after its owner, Rena Avendula reportedly had disagreements with a business partner. Apparently, many of its customers did not agree with her being a staunch supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte.



"To our beloved customers and friends . Thank you for the wholehearted support for the past years. It is with a heavy heart that we announced officially the closing of Payag restaurant until July 31, 2017." A statement reads at the official Facebook page of Payag Restaurant on June 28, along with an invitation to the public to dine in for the last time.

"Financially, I’m affected. I feel it’s a wise decision to go in a different direction. I just want to thank them that they were there throughout the years. The restaurant has helped so many Filipinos." Rena Avendula was quoted as saying in a report at Sunnyside Post, noting that because of the controversy, she has no plans of opening a new restaurant.

According to the report, Avendula had been thinking about closing her restaurant for a quite some time, after a former business partner filed a lawsuit against her. However, the details of the case were not mentioned. It also turned out that many of the customers bashed the 50-year old owner on social media because of her huge support to President Duterte.





In a short video by RJ Nieto (aka Thinking Pinoy) on Facebook, he said that Rena Avendula was a friend of Loida Nicolas Lewis, a Filipino-born American businesswoman in New York. He added that just like Lewis, Avendula also is a supporter of Liberal Party (LP). But in the May 2016 election, she decided to support the Duterte candidacy.



Nieto noted that when Avendula started her support to Duterte, many LP supporters posted negative reviews about Payag Restaurant, and that some of those reviews were only invented. The pro-Duterte blogger added that she had no husband and children, and has donated millions of pesos to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda back in November 2013.

Contributed by Salvi Dalida

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