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Arroyo entourage spent over P37M in US, document shows


(Updated 11:56 p.m.) President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her entourage spent more than P37 million – or over P6 million a day – in their six-day stay at the United States early this month, a television report said on Wednesday. In an exclusive report aired over GMA News’ “24 Oras," Lei Alviz said Mrs. Arroyo and her group spent $371,000 (roughly P18 million) in Washington DC alone, where the President met with US President Barack Obama at the White House. The amounts were based from a list of expenditures obtained by GMA News from deputy executive secretary Susanna Vargas. It was in Washington that the presidential entourage dined at the posh Bobby Van’s Steakhouse, spending $15,000 on lobster, steak and fine wines, according to a Washington Post blog. Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez, who was part of the delegation, said he was the one who paid for the meal. In New York City where Mrs. Arroyo and her entourage paid $20,000 for a dinner in a posh French restaurant, the party’s expenses reached $396,000 or more than P19 million. Malacañang had earlier said the dinner at Le Cirque was paid for by Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, nephew of former First Lady Imelda Marcos and a close ally of Mrs. Arroyo. According to the list, the delegation spent the biggest in transportation, with expenses reaching $265,000 or around P13 million.

Millions of pesos were also paid out for hotel accommodations, representation expenses, secretariat supplies and even gratuities, the list further showed. The report said the P37-million expenditure did not cover the expenses of Cabinet secretaries and the 27 congressmen who joined the President in her US trip. The figure only included expenses of Mrs. Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago and Lito Lapid, House Speaker Prospero Nograles, two Palace officials and 50 other support staff from Malacañang, the report said. Malacañang is currently under fire for the alleged "lavish" lifestyle - particularly the dinners - Mrs. Arroyo and her party enjoyed in the US. Critics said the dinners showed Mrs. Arroyo's insensitivity toward the plight of many Filipinos suffering from the effects of the global financial crisis. "Frugal" But despite the staggering amounts mentioned in the list, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the presidential entourage had been very "frugal" while in the US. “When I was in Willard (Intercontinental Hotel), I was sharing a room with Joey Isabelo. In New York, tatlo kami in the room. So, matipid kami sa OPS (In New York, I shared a room with two others. So we are frugal in the OPS)," Remonde said. He also said that Mrs. Arroyo's visits abroad should be "exempted" from the government’s austerity measures considering the economic benefits they reap. "The austerity project is very much observed but I am sure that, in the context of foreign travels...it’s an exception because they are ministerial (and) important meetings (that the President has to attend)," he said. Remonde justified Mrs. Arroyo’s "aggressive" foreign engagements by highlighting that these are working trips that bring huge investments to the country. "If not for the aggressive foreign engagements of the President, our economy would be worse. That's part of President Arroyo's hard work and being an aggressive salesman," he said. Senate grilling Despite Malacañang’s explanations, an opposition senator on Wednesday vowed to grill Palace executives on Mrs. Arroyo's travel expenses when it scrutinizes the national budget for 2010. Senate finance committee chairman Panfilo Lacson said he would zero in on the use of contingent funds in the budget, which he said could be better reserved for calamities. “Kung kine-claim nilang walang illegal, pero kami ayaw namin mag-concede. Sa darating na budget hearing tatanungin namin ito. Bakit kailangan gastusin ang contingency fund na nakalaan sa calamities? Kaya contingency fund, contingency, di para gastusin sa foreign travel," he said. (Palace officials have been insisting there was nothing illegal, and we are not ready to concede that. In the budget hearings we will grill them on this.) Last week, Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto Guingona III accused Mrs. Arroyo of "overspending" in her foreign trips from 2003 to 2007. Citing data from the Commission on Audit (COA), he said the President spent P2.7 billion from that period when the budget was supposed to have only been P1.1 billion. Guingona is the son of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., a staunch critic of the Arroyo administration. But Lacson said the violations of the budget law became glaring this year following reports of the expensive dinners Mrs. Arroyo and her contingent had while in the US. - GMANews.TV
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