Arroyo has become more Imeldific than Imelda
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:56:00 10/08/2009
Compared to former first lady Imelda Marcos, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is more generous in giving tips.
The $120,000 or P6 million ($1=P50) spent by President Arroyo for tips in her last visit to the United States is a thousand times bigger than the usual gratuity Ms Marcos gave to waiters and restaurant staff during the latter’s heyday in Malacaņang.
In 1985, after a Valentine dinner party she hosted at the Misono lounge of Hyatt Hotel, Ms Marcos gave $1,100 to the waiters, musicians, and chefs. The bellhops of the Waldorf-Astoria would receive between $50 and $100 every time they entered her suites while here is President Arroyo spending over a hundred thousand dollars for tips alone.
We can’t imagine that a leader of one of the poorest countries in the world can do this kind of extremely insulting, highly revolting, oligarchic act just to please and amaze the lawmakers and Cabinet officials loyal to her.
Based on the official breakdown of expenses provided by Susanna Vargas, Malacaņang’s deputy executive secretary for administration and finance, Ms Arroyo’s party spent $66,000 in Washington D.C. and $59,000 in New York for various service tips for a grand total of $125,000 or roughly P6 million.
The report states the Arroyo party gave money to bellboys, porters, drivers, convoy escorts and housekeeping personnel in the United States for the services they rendered to the President and her party. The total amount spent for the US trip of President Arroyo amounted to P37 million, according to a Palace report.
The P6 million spent for tips is separate from the $1,500 tip given by Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez to the waiters of Bobby Van Steak House in Washington D.C. Suarez also admitted paying for the $12,000 dinner consumed by President Arroyo and her entourage at the ritzy restaurant on July 30.
This is enough. We strongly ask House Speaker Prospero Nograles to conduct a full-blown inquiry over these much ballyhooed controversies on lavish dinners involving the President and 28 lawmakers who joined her in that US visit.
Speaker Nograles should uphold the people’s sentiment in the House of Representatives, and he should quit performing to the hilt his role as the second-rate copycat edition of Press Secretary Cerge Remonde.