GMA's $20,000 Dinner At NY's Le Cirque

[buriroy]

Kumakalat sa Twitter ngayon yung balita na nasa New York Post (page 6)
yung news na nag-dinner pala si GMA and her group while in New York sa
Le Cirque, one of it's most expensive restaurants.
The bill came to $20,000 because they ordered several expensive wines.

Langhya ka naman Ate Glo, nagluluksa kami dito sa Pinas, eto ka naman at
nagpapasarap sa New York at sobrang bongga pa!

No wonder hindi ka agad makauwi ng maaga. Please be reminded na 3rd-world
country lang tayo, sana nag McDo ka na lang! hehehe!

[_Cathy_]

It's so disgusting talaga! I checked the menu of Le Cirque online and they could have had dinner for $120 or around P7,500. I really have no business on how they want to spend their money, some people have different indulges in life, and some choose to indulge on food but to celebrate while the whole country was mourning the loss of President Cory Aquino is just plain insensitive.

It's also immoral for these public officials to spend $700 or P35,000 each for dinner ($20,000/28) which was paid for by just one person. Imagine treating out your friends for a $20,000 dinner. What business is this government official in??? It sure earns him tons of money!

[ghosthunter]

So what's new to PGMA's spending habits?

[vito corleone]

kesyo nag-offer pa raw sila ng misa dun sa ny. . .e ayun naman pala at nagcelebrate din. . .bwisit talaga

pu&$%*!^&mo talaga, pandak. . .bakit di pa ikaw ang nakalibing ngayon?

[chua_riwap]

Baka deny to death na naman ang mga yan.........

[Monseratto]

The opposition is now "feasting" over yet another Malacanang boo-boo...

Palace: Congressman paid for $20,000 dinner in NY

MANILA - Malacañang admitted on Saturday that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her entourage had a lavish dinner in a fancy French restaurant in New York during her recent US trip, but said it was a congressman who paid the $20,000 (around P1 million) bill.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told ABS-CBN News that it was Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez who picked up the tab at the Le Cirque in New York, not the Office of the President.

He said President Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo were merely invited to the dinner. They also had nothing to do with the expensive choices on the menu, he added.

"It was Congressman Martin Romualdez who invited the First Couple to dinner at Le Cirque in New York. As to how much the dinner costs, Malacañang does not know as it was the host who chose the menu and picked up the tab," Remonde said. "There was no partying. Just dinner pure and simple."

Opposition leader Jejomar Binay and activist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) had criticized the US$20,000 dinner, saying it was unconscionable in the midst of national mourning for the late former President Corazon Aquino and widespread poverty in the country.

"While the nation was in mourning, a report that Mrs. Arroyo and her people were celebrating in New York with expensive wine leaves a bad taste in the mouth," Binay said in a statement.

Citing online reports, Binay said Mrs. Arroyo and her entourage allegedly ordered 11 bottles of Krug champagne priced at $510 per bottle. The whole entourage also feasted on Osetra caviar ($1,400 for five ounces), a "Chef's Tasting Menu" or wine paired with a dish for $4,500 for 25 orders, and a "three-course Chef's Seasonal Menu worth $1,450 for 25 orders.

Binay said "the dinner was held a few hours before they left for Manila to pay their respects to Aquino at the Manila Cathedral on August 5."

New York Post report

A New York Post online news article said Mrs. Arroyo's wine and dine at the Le Cirque totaled $20,000, which is equivalent to almost one million in Philippine peso (P955,400).

The New York Post article, posted August 7, said: "Philippines President Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was at Le Cirque the other night with a large entourage enjoying the good life... Macapagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000."

"The Arroyo administration talks about giving honor and respect to the memory of the former president. It seems that spending an astonishing amount of money - enough to provide almost 3,000 hungry families with three square meals - appears to be their idea of honoring and respecting Cory," Binay said.

He added: "How Mrs. Arroyo and her administration can justify blowing P960,000 for dinner and expensive wine at a time of economic difficulty is beyond me."

Inappropriate, regardless

Bayan had also asked Malacañang to explain the extravagant spending.

“Malacañang has a lot of explaining to do about this latest allegation which came out in an American paper. Who spent for the lavish dinner? Is it appropriate for a head of state of a Third World country like Mrs. Arroyo to wine and dine in such a manner, given that we’re in the midst of a crisis?” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said in a statement on Saturday. (Read: Palace told: Explain Arroyo's alleged $20,000 dinner in NY)

The activist leader said that even if the expensive dinner was paid by somebody else, "it still would not look appropriate" because of the Philippines' poverty and hunger rate.

President Arroyo met with US President Barack Obama last July 30 in Washington D.C. and visited New York before cutting short her trip just in time for Mrs. Aquino's wake at the Manila Cathedral last August 5.

“It’s embarrassing for the Philippines to have such write-ups appear in a foreign paper. It begs the question, what is Mrs. Arroyo really doing during her trips? Are taxpayers being made to shoulder the lavish lifestyles of the so-called rich and famous?” Reyes said.

He said the supposed lavish display at the prestigious restaurant bolsters perception that Philippine government officials are corrupt "and are living it up while others wallow in crisis." -- with a report from Israel Malasa, ABS-CBN News

[james00112233]

sana yang p**$&^**# pandak ang namatay para tayo naman ang nagsasaya para sa kanya. sana ma-BAD karma sya sa ginagawa nya!!!!

[Gerbo]

What!!! Revolting...

And I really cannot believe that no tax payer's money is involved esp. coming from a congressman. Malacanang spin doctors are now really into it.

How much excesses can we further tolerate?

[hein]

This is where the Greedy Dwarf ate. Take note of the Climate controlled Wine Storage on the right. It goes down 35 feet.


These wine bottles live better than most Filipinos do. Naka aircon 24/7.

Goes to show what kind of leaders we have.

[ooba99]

Saan naman kaya kinuha ni Congressman Martin yung pinang-bayad nya sa ritzy resto na ito?

Expected reply from the good congressman: "Galing sa aking sariling bulsa"

End of story.

Kainis!