Arroyo trips cost taxpayers nearly P1 billion in 2009

The Office of the President went on a jet-setting spree in the last full year of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's presidency, spending almost a billion pesos in taxpayers' money for her trips here and abroad. The Commission on Audit's latest annual audit report shows that the OP chalked up P937 million in travel expenses in 2009. In contrast, during Arroyo’s first full year in office as President in 2002, the OP shelled out only P91.5 million for local and foreign visits. Click here for larger version Foreign trips ate up most of her travel expenses in 2009, costing the OP P848 million as former President Arroyo made the most number of trips abroad in the homestretch of her term. Arroyo’s schedule was packed with 17 foreign trips to 19 countries, and she was away for approximately 62 days. In one of these trips, her administration came under fire for controversial travel expenses. Reports of lavish dining overshadowed Arroyo’s meeting with US President Barack Obama last year, when a US publication revealed that her entourage had dinner at upscale restaurants Le Cirque in New York and Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Washington DC. Arroyo allies later took the heat for the public outcry and barrage of criticisms: Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez said he paid the $20,000-bill in the NY restaurant while Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said he picked up the tab for the Washington steakhouse meal amounting to $15,000. The controversial visit was composed of 107 delegates and racked up P69 million in travel expenses, according to COA’s records. In its 2009 audit report, COA noted that OP overshot its budget for travel expenses by P696 million, spending nearly four times more than what was allocated for the item in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) in 2009. Actual disbursements for OP's local and foreign visits amounted to P940.6 million, even though the GAA only provided for P244.6 million. To pay for the expenses, OP dipped into the contingent fund and the OP’s General and Administration and Support Services Program. Ballooning travel costs The former President Arroyo’s trips in 2009 represent the biggest travel tab ever incurred by the OP during the Arroyo administration -- a 924% increase, to be exact, compared to what was spent for the same purpose in 2002. Escalating travel costs outpaced the increase in total OP expenses, which only grew by 78% during the same period (2002-2009). Arroyo’s travel expenses ballooned over the years, eating up a fifth of the OP’s total expenses in the latter half of former President Arroyo’s term. Arroyo had as little as six foreign trips in previous years (2002, 2004-2006). She spent nearly an entire year, approximately 338 days, out of the country during her nine-year presidency. All in all, she made 88 trips to 42 countries and territories from 2001 to 2009. Arroyo’s most frequent destination was the United States, which she visited 16 times during her term. Trim delegation, COA tells OP In its 2009 audit report, COA recommended that OP should be more circumspect in choosing who gets to tag along with the President on foreign visits. The report found that around 60 persons on average comprised Arroyo’s delegation during foreign trips. The COA suggested that OP should trim the members of the delegation to reduce total travel expenses. To keep track of expenses, the audit body advised the OP to set up a billing system that will handle the costs incurred by paying members of the delegation. Aquino's austerity measures The new administration under President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has vowed to keep travels abroad at a minimum in line with its austerity measures. Last Wednesday, President Aquino told reporters in Cebu City that he will no longer be attending a conference in Brussels because the leaders he wanted to meet there have not yet confirmed their attendance. The President is set to fly to the US next week to attend the United Nations general assembly. The US trip will be Aquino’s first foreign trip since he became the country’s chief executive last June 30. – YA, GMANews.TV