37 solons join Arroyo party; who’s paying for their trip? Christian V. Esguerra Tarra Quismundo Norman Bordadora Michael Lim Ubac Inquirer
December 04, 2007
MANILA, Philippines -- Who are the lawmakers now with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on her three-country tour of Europe -- and who paid for their trip?
Heeding the request of an opposition lawmaker, Speaker Jose de Venecia Monday released the list of his colleagues who joined the presidential visits to France, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Leading the 34-strong congressional delegation was Deputy Speaker Amelita “Girlie” Villarosa, one of the President’s most trusted lieutenants who had earlier admitted distributing cash gifts in Malacañang on Oct. 11.
The list also showed that Quezon City Rep. Mary Ann Susano was traveling with a certain Evangeline Evangelista while Masbate Rep. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete was with her son Mayor Joshur.
It was also one of the year’s largest presidential delegations to book a chartered flight.
A contingent of close to 200 individuals left with Ms Arroyo and her family on Saturday night on board a chartered Philippine Airlines plane to France, Spain and the United Kingdom. They included Cabinet members, three senators, 34 representatives and a few of their family members.
The PAL flight had 192 passengers on board, according to the flight manifest obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
Ms Arroyo’s other foreign trips this year had entourages of no more than 100 individuals.
The President and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, were seated in business class, along with their children, Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo and Evangeline Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo. The first couple’s grandchildren were also on the flight.
Other officials who enjoyed business class comfort with the First Family were Finance Secretary Peter Favila, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Senators Edgardo Angara, Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Also in the VIP cabin were controversial women close to the President, including Malacañang staff member Remedios Poblador and Villarosa, both tagged in the recent bribery scandal at the Palace.
Other lawmakers and businessmen in the entourage were seated in economy.
34 lawmakers
“I’m shocked,” Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said in the plenary session upon receiving the three-page Malacañang protocol list, copies of which were distributed to reporters. “I can’t imagine what their role is in the presidential trip.”
A separate two-page document from the Office of Presidential Protocol also listed 34 members of the House of Representatives as having been “cleared for inclusion in the delegation of the President.”
Five more lawmakers were included in a separate list provided in a text message by someone identified with De Venecia.
With funding for the Europe trip under scrutiny, the Speaker claimed that the House leadership spent not a single centavo for the mammoth delegation.
Cheaper Medicines Bill
“There was no appropriation from the House regarding their plane fare, hotel bills and per diem (allowance),” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
De Venecia declined to comment on the timing and propriety of the lawmakers’ trip, considering that it came when the Lower House was about to vote on the landmark Cheaper Medicines Bill.
This was the reason Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez did not join the presidential entourage.
Alvarez is chair of the committee on trade and industry, which consolidated more than 20 bills seeking to lower the prices of medicines in the country.
“I was in the Malacañang list since last year, but I had to back out,” he told the Inquirer. “Our work on the Cheaper Medicines Bill was not yet done. It would be embarrassing to leave.”
The Inquirer on Monday phoned the offices of each of the lawmakers on the Malacañang protocol list. At least 27 lawmakers were confirmed to have joined the European trip.
Meeting the king and queen
Spanish King Carlos I and Queen Sofia de Grecia formally met with Ms Arroyo and her husband in an elaborate welcome ceremony in Madrid Monday morning (afternoon in Manila) which evoked historical and sentimental memories for both countries.
Ms Arroyo is the second Philippine President after her late father, President Diosdado Macapagal, to officially visit Spain. During the 1962 state visit, then presidential daughter Gloria Macapagal joined her father, a trip which she said evoked both “historical and sentimental memories.”
During an elaborate ceremony at 10:45 a.m. here (5:45 p.m. in Manila), Ms Arroyo was given arrival honors, complete with a 21-gun salute and a full military parade, at the courtyard of the Palacio de el Pardo, the residence for visiting heads of state and monarchs.
Soon after the Spanish monarchs arrived and took their places of honor in the Palace courtyard, Ms Arroyo and the First Gentleman arrived by car.
The king and queen welcomed and greeted the First Couple before Ms Arroyo was ushered toward the Royal Guard formation, signaling the start of the arrival honors.
Filipinos in Madrid
From there, the First Couple motored to the Spanish Senate where Ms Arroyo was met by the Senate President and the President of the Chamber of Deputies Manuel Marin Gonzales.
Ms Arroyo and her husband had a flurry of activities in Madrid late Monday as they laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Plaza de la Lealtad, had a private lunch with the Spanish royalty at the Palacio de la Zarzuela, visited the Ayuntamiento de Madrid (City Hall) and met with Spanish politicians and businessmen.
The day was capped by a gala dinner hosted by the king and queen at the Palacio Real de Madrid, the official residence of the monarchs.
Ms Arroyo officially started her four-day state visit to Spain late Sunday (Monday in Manila) by meeting with Filipino professionals and other overseas Filipino workers who gathered at the La Salle Colegio Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas.
List of lawmakers in the President’s trip to Madrid, Spain:
1. Simeon Datumanong, Maguindanao 2. Ma. Amelita Villarosa, Occidental Mindoro 3. Reylina Nicolas, Bulacan 4. Ma. Milagros Magsaysay, Zambales 5. Mary Ann Susano, Quezon City 6. Victoria Reyes and spouse, Batangas 7. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete and son, Masbate 8. Herminia Ramiro, Misamis Occidental 9. Antonio Alvarez and spouse, Palawan 10. Trinidad Apostol, Leyte 11. Ma. Rachel Arenas, Pangasinan 12. Abraham Kahlil Mitra, Palawan 13. Rodolfo Antonino and spouse, Nueva Ecija 14. Antonio Cerilles, Zamboanga del Sur 15. Reynaldo Uy, Western Samar 16. Roger Mercado, Southern Leyte 17. Albert Garcia, Bataan 18. Monico Puentevella, Bacolod City 19. Nanette Castelo-Daza and companion, Quezon City 20. Arnulfo Go, Sultan Kudarat 21. Datu Pax Mangudadatu, Sultan Kudarat 22. Monica Louise Prieto-Teodoro, Tarlac 23. Anna York-Bondoc, MD, Pampanga 24. Aurelio Gonzales, Pampanga 25. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Leyte 26. Zenaida Angping and spouse, Manila 27. Danilo Suarez, Quezon 28. Rodolfo Albano III, Isabela 29. Mark Llandro Mendoza, Batangas 30. Del de Guzman, Marikina City 31. Carmen Cari, Leyte 32. Ann Tan, Western Samar 33. Carissa Coscolluela, Buhay 34. Maria Isabelle Climaco, Zamboanga 35. Sen. Edgardo Angara 36. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago 37. Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri
