It's junket time again

All their bags are packed and they’re ready to go. It’s junket time again for lawmakers who begin their month-long break today.

Speaker Prospero Nograles is leading a nine-member House delegation to an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

At least 10 senators are going abroad either as part of their official functions or personal vacation.

Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. will also lead the Philippine Senate delegation to the IPU where he is expected to discuss with foreign parliamentarians pressing international concerns.

Joining him are Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Senators Juliana Pilar Cayetano, Gregorio Honasan II, and Rodolfo Biazon. They will be accompanied by Carmen Arceno, director general, Senate Office of International Relations and Protocol, and

lawyer Edwin Bellen, deputy secretary for legislation.

Pimentel and Pia Cayetano both left for Geneva yesterday.

Pia’s younger brother, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, said he is going to a “long planned” vacation abroad, while Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri is going to Russia with Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan on Oct. 16.

Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal have also planned their separate vacations in Europe.

Other congressmen and senators are attending the World Bank meeting in Washington D.C., together with some Cabinet members.

Senators adjourned their session for the month-long break last Wednesday night. Some of them have already reportedly left for Geneva.

The House, on the other hand, is scheduled to adjourn session after the expected approval of the 2009 budget today.

Nograles was originally set to leave also today, but Majority Leader Arthur Defensor told The STAR that the House chief decided to delay his departure by one day to await the approval of the proposed P1.415-trillion budget.

Registration for the IPU conference begins today.

Members of the Nograles delegation are Representatives Mark Cojuangco of Pangasinan, Jesus Crispin Remulla of Cavite, Amado Bagatsing and Zenaida Angping of Manila, Rodolfo Plaza of Agusan del Sur, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of Ilocos Norte, Victor Ortega of La Union, and Mitos Magsaysay of Zambales.

In the case of Villar, it could not be ascertained if he would again treat congressmen belonging to the Nacionalista Party (NP), which he heads, to an expensive river cruise after the Geneva conference.

Last year, after an IPU meeting in Geneva, he and about 20 NP congressmen, including their wives, went on a 10-day cruise along the Nile River in Egypt. 

Before that, Villar, who is facing an ethics committee case for alleged conflict of interest, gave his NP loyalists a Three Gorges Dam treat.

The dam, which impounds water from the Yangtze River, is reputed to be the largest in the world and has become one of the newest tourist attractions in China.

Defensor, referring to the budget, said: “We are on track to approve it tomorrow. We will be done maybe by 9 or 10 p.m. As of today, we are already 80 percent finished.”

The House was scheduled last night to approve the budgets of several agencies, including the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Last Wednesday, Nograles said he would like the DA outlay to be increased “since it is one of our frontline agencies in cushioning the adverse effects of the financial crisis in the United States.”

“We should ensure easy and affordable access to food, particularly rice, which is our basic staple. We can survive any crisis as long as we have food on the table,” he said. The budget of two big agencies – the Department of National Defense and the Department of Public Works and Highways – would be tackled before the month-long break.   – With Christina Mendez