Ambassador Gaa subs for Arroyo in LA reception

CHICAGO, Illinois – Philippine Ambassador to the United States Willy Gaa substituted for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the reception of the Filipino-American community Friday night. The President failed to make it at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles, California, after her plane made “an unscheduled stop in Osaka, Japan when First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo fell ill." An e-mail from the Philippine Consulate of Los Angeles forwarded to this reporter by community activist and online journalist Bobby M. Reyes also said that the press conference to be hosted by Press Secretary Jess Dureza at 4 p.m. “will no longer take place." The dinner reception, which appeared to have been paid in advance, had to push through as scheduled at 5:45 p.m., the e-mail said. According to Reyes, Filipino-American activists started massing in front of Sheraton Gateway Hotel as early as 3:50 p.m. but left at 7 p.m. after being told that President Arroyo was not showing up. Some 70 demonstrators were asked “not to proceed to the hotel venue anymore." One of the three Los Angeles policemen mounted on bikes estimated the activists at 50 Filipino Americans and some 20 American friends of the Philippines who were “well-behaved." There were no sightings of US Secret Service agents as President Arroyo was not around. Mrs. Arroyo was making a stopover at Los Angles on her way to Peru to attend the Asian Pacific Economic Conference on Saturday and Sunday. Reyes said it was too bad he would not be able to get answers from Secretary Dureza on a report in his MabuhayRadio.com online magazine about the purchase of 10 cargo-screening devices by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) that was allegedly facilitated by the First Gentleman. The report said the units were found to be overpriced by $7-million each, plus a 20 percent commission on the actual price of $3-million per unit. Reyes said the Arroyo Administration’s “Incredible Bulk" deal involves an overprice of $70-million plus commissions of $6-million. The PPA and the Office of the President has not replied to the report so far, he said. - GMANews.TV