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Ermita: P123M spent on Arroyo's 5-nation trip


MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine government spent at least P123 million for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s eight-day, five-nation trip last week, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Wednesday. But Ermita was quick to add that the trip was well worth the expenditure considering the close to $2 billion "pledge" that resulted from President Arroyo’s foreign visits. Ermita also said the Arroyo administration was not "squandering" the people's money whenever the President went on a foreign visit. "Apart from being part of the President's international commitments, it is also in the best interest of the Filipinos," Ermita said of the trips. President Arroyo arrived last Sunday from her visits to Davos in Switzerland, Milan in Italy, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Manama in Bahrain, and Washington, DC, in the US. Ermita said a pledge of $200 million assistance for agriculture production was made by Saudi Arabia, while another $300 million, also for agriculture production, was promised by Bahrain. He said this was on top of a hotel project that would be put up in Makati City on the first quarter of this year. The project has an estimated cost of $350 million to $400 million, that would be shouldered by investors from Bahrain. Ermita said some $1 billion to $1.2 billion worth of textiles form the Philippines is also due for export to the US, a pledge made by several businessmen whom President Arroyo met during her trip to Washington. "And of course we cannot quantify what we will get for the approval of the Veterans [Equity] bill for our Filipino veterans in the States, as well as the goodwill we have developed when the President met with Senator (John) Kerry and the new State Department Secretary Hilary Clinton," he added. - GMANews.TV
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