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!!!!

[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!

[rai711]

Ubos na naman ang kaban ng bayan...hinuthot na ang pera ng GSIS ngayon pati pera ng SSS kinuha na tapos ganyan lang mababalitaan mo? Anu ba namang klaseng tao yan napaka kapal ng mukha. yung halagang yun kung binili nya ng gamot maraming filipino na ang nakinabang. SALAMAT SA PAG WALDAS MO NG TAX NAMIN.... ABULOY KO NA YUNG TAX KO SAYO!!!!

[Jun aka Pekto]

Gee. And I thought Obama's $500 per plate dinners were bad.

[explorer]

from: www.inquirer.net

Lapid did not enjoy French dinner - Miriam

Christine Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 09, 2009

MANILA, Philippines - No photo with Obama plus the meal sucked. And for that, Senator Lito Lapid could have just stayed home.

After failing to have a photo opportunity with US President Barack Obama, Lapid was said to have not enjoyed the P1-million presidential fine dining experience at Le Cirque restaurant in New York.

It was Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago who spilled the beans on Sunday as she also put her foot down on such an “outlandish'' spending.

Like Lapid, Santiago joined the recent US trip of President Macapagal Arroyo, but she said she skipped the infamous dinner at the popular French restaurant which cost a whopping $20,000 or P1 million in food and wine.

She said she skipped the August 2 dinner with President Macapagal Arroyo and her entourage because she said she normally did not like to go to places like that as this would require her to doll herself up with make-up and jewelry.

She also ditched the affair because Santiago said she was not a “scintillating personality after 8 pm.'' Santiago attributed this to her chronic fatigue syndrome condition, which she jested, made her a cranky person in the late hours.

Still, she said she was surprised to find out that dinner was at Le Cirque, the watering hole of the rich and famous.

The senator said that when in the US she preferred to go to Vietnamese restaurants because for $10 to $15, one could have a meal of rice and viand.

Those who go to restaurants like Le Cirque pay “for the prestige of that place and privilege of seeing and being seen,'' according to Santiago.

But apparently, the ambiance of the restaurant failed to impress Lapid.

Santiago said she learned that Lapid had told protocol officers that he did not enjoy the Le Cirque dinner.

“Sabi niya, grabe naman itong restaurant na eto, katagal tagal dumating ng order (He said, ‘This is too much...it takes too long for the food to come),'' Santiago said in an interview with dzBB radio.

Lapid had pointed out to protocol officers that it took time to serve the meal because waiters would change plates and silverware every course, according to Santiago.

“That's why he did not like the French restaurant,'' she said of Lapid, a movie actor and former Pampanga governor.

Lapid recently raised eyebrows and not to mention giggles when he admitted he joined the US presidential trip so that he could be photographed next to Obama, the first American black president.

The senator did not get his wish because Obama only got to chitchat with President Arroyo, Santiago, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Speaker Prospero Nograles in the White House.

On Sunday, Santiago said she had explained to Lapid about how strict the protocol was on the Obama meeting as she disclosed as well that anyway, the group did not even had a chance to be photographed with the US President.

“We have no picture with Obama because we're not allowed to have pictures with him. His time was very very limited,'' she said.

The US president, Santiago said, was all business. “So there was no picture taking,'' she laughed.

Santiago said in the meeting, she was able to tell Obama that “America would not be able to get what it all wants from President Arroyo because she was not free to sign treaties as these needed to be approved by the Senate, which is dominated by the opposition.''

And for that remark to Obama, she said the US president told her with a laugh that “I can see you are a powerful woman.''

It was a good thing that during the meeting there was no talk of prisoners in Guantanamo being shipped to the Philippines.

Had this been mentioned and with Obama telling her that she seemed to be a powerful woman, she said she might end up being “powerful in a sense that I would have raised my voice'' on that issue.

[CVT]

Is this true?.... If it is, malabo na talaga ang mga nangyayari.....

8404:duel:

[shadow]

sarap!

from New York post..

eat and drink



"ang sharap sharap nho!"-GMA

August 7, 2009 --
THE economic downturn hasn't persuaded everyone to pinch pennies. Philippines President Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was at Le Cirque the other night with a large entourage enjoying the good life, even though the former comptroller of her country's armed serv ices, Carlos Garcia, was found guilty earlier this year of per jury and two of his sons were arrested in the US on bulk cash-smuggling charges. Maca pagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000.

[boybi]

Saan kaya nakuha yang bill nila and ilan talaga yung kumain dyan? Yan ba mismo yung bill/receipt?

[uls]

pansin ko the very rich (locals) do their big spending abroad

they live here, make their money here, pero pag dating sa gastos... kuripot sila

yun pala, the big spending happens when they go abroad

dun sila hindi kuripot

when i saw that $20,000 dinner news, i wasnt really surprised

[_Qwerty_]

kung 25 sila.. that's 40T pesos per head!!! dapat di na ulit iboto lahat nang kumain dyan..

[jeDi13]

i'm sure, GMA can just easily walk away from this

ibang klase talaga, kapal. wala na siyang sense of morality

[shadow]

ilan talaga yung kumain dyan?

^picture ng dining hall ng restaurant, I counted 8 chairs each table, ito sabi ng spokeperson ng Malacanang "the Malacañang group occupied only two tables "

so 16 persons for 2 tables US$20,000/16=US$1,250*...really a very simple dinner...

oh sige sabihin na natin pinoy, sanay sa siksik, napagkasya nila ng 20 persons sa dalawang table or sige gawin na natin 25 persons sa dalawang tables...

$20,000/25=US$800/* pa rin...

Palace: Just simple dinner
Remonde says report was grossly exaggerated
By Christian V. Esguerra, Christine Avendaño, Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:22:00 08/10/2009

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang is furious at reports that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her party spent close to P1 million for a dinner at a classy New York restaurant, which triggered denunciations of “brazen” spending at a time when many Filipinos have nothing to eat.
“Not a single centavo of taxpayers’ money was spent for that dinner,” an angry Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Sunday, referring to the dinner at Le Cirque restaurant on Aug. 2 during Ms Arroyo’s visit to the United States.
To quell speculation about Ms Arroyo’s supposedly wasteful spending, Remonde said he would ask the deputy executive secretary for finance to release this week a financial statement on all expenses incurred during the visit.
“The report was grossly exaggerated, really exaggerated,” Remonde said in his weekly media forum on state-run Radyo ng Bayan. “That’s what you call agitation propaganda to anger the people.”
Contrary to the report, Remonde insisted that the dinner was a “simple” one and was hosted by Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday contacted Romualdez by phone for comment. He said he would call back but did not. He did not respond to calls and text messages on Sunday.
“What we had in New York was a simple, late night dinner because it was already late at night when we arrived there from Washington DC and, of course, we were all hungry,” Remonde said.
He said the Malacañang group occupied only two tables and ordered a “set” meal consisting of soup, salad, a main course, drinks and coffee or tea.
“There was no truth to the report that many different types of champagne and fancy food items were ordered,” he said.

[KERSMcRae]

Sinasagad na ni Gloria Makapal-Arroyo ang lahat ng "karangyaan".
Sure hit na naman ang issue na ito para rumesbak ang Opposition matapos silang upakan ni bulilit sa kanyang SONA.

OT: This week ay nasa Ilocoslovakia yata si pandak. Sana pakainin din siya ni Cong. Bongbong ng fresh & juicy "[SIZE=4]papaitan[/SIZE]". ipasipsip din sa kanya yung bituka (dessert).