40 congressmen joining GMA in Europe

[shadow]

ayos talaga....tayo nanaman ang magbabayad nito...tsk tsk tsk

40 congressmen joining GMA in Europe
By Jess Diaz
Thursday, November 29, 2007
As the charms of Spain and England beckon, serious legislative work can definitely wait for some lawmakers.

A group of more than 40 lawmakers is joining President Arroyo in her trip to London and Spain this weekend.

“This is a big delegation, we are more than 40,” a congressman, who declined to be named, told The STAR yesterday.

Five other congressmen confirmed they are going to London and Spain, but on their own and that they would just link up with Mrs. Arroyo’s entourage.

To The STAR’s knowledge, no member of the opposition or minority bloc is joining the delegation to Europe.
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“This is clearly a junket. But unlike previous vacations abroad, this is taking place while Congress is in session and the House is in the middle of deliberations on the cheap medicine bill, which is supposed to be a priority administration measure,” an opposition congressman said. He said the group is “by far the biggest delegation of House junketeers.”[/SIZE]

He noted that in the past, “a group of 15 was already big, and junkets took place when Congress was not in session.”

He said he could not understand why more than 40 of his colleagues opted to join Mrs. Arroyo on her second trip to London and Spain in one and a half years.

Many lawmakers in the President’s entourage are members of her own party, the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) whose leaders want to oust Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. for his son’s damning allegations against the President and her husband regarding the aborted national broadband network deal with ZTE Corp. of China.

The last time the President was in Europe was in June last year. It was in Spain where the Arroyos and several House allies celebrated the birthday of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

A few months later, Mrs. Arroyo flew to London, where officials of British American Tobacco treated her to dinner.

The company wants to expand its operations in the Philippines if it succeeds in fending off attempts by the Bureau of Internal Revenue to slap a higher excise tax on its Pall Mall brand.

After her nine-day European trip, the President plans to convene the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) to discuss her priority bills with leaders of Congress.

She announced the plan following criticism from the Makati Business Club that she was not doing enough to ensure the passage of her pet legislative proposals.

One such measure is the cheap medicine bill, which is still languishing in the House. The Senate already approved on third and final reading its own version of the bill.
Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez, principal sponsor of the bill, said he could not understand what’s taking his colleagues in the majority so long to approve the measure.

Another priority measure that’s in the doldrums is the proposal to exempt millions of minimum wage earners from paying income tax. Up to now, no one from either the administration or its allies has revived the bill, which the Senate killed in the previous Congress.

The House passed the measure, but senators sat on it until the 13th Congress ended last June 30.

Mrs. Arroyo promised tax exemption to workers on May 1, 2006, which was Labor Day, repeated it on May 1 this year, and again in her State of the Nation Address before Congress last July 24.

crocodiles in disguise

[russpogi]

Hay nako, priorities nga naman ng gobyerno.... tsk tsk tsk

[ghosthunter]

it would be nice to blow up the plane carrying them so we could get rid of a lot of government crocs in one go.

[chua_riwap]

9 day European visit? Wow tagal pala nila sa pamamasyal. Sarap buhay ng mga buwaya......

[Syuryuken]

tayo na namang nagbabayad ng buwis ang gagastos

parte pa rin ng suhol o bayad sa pagbasura sa impeachment? kung private plane gagamitin nila.... SANA BUMAGSAK AT MATIGOK NA SILANG LAHAT!

[chua_riwap]

Tsaka bakit 40? Di ba pwedeng 10 lang?

Garapalan na..............