To OFWs: Watch GMA's overseas expenses

I’m glad I kept the e-mail from a Filipino contact in Dubai, which Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited last January and April. It is relevant to Arroyo and hangers-on blowing $15,000 (P750,000) and $20,000 (P1,000,000) on dinners in swanky restaurants in Washington DC and New York City. Wrote the hotel worker on Apr. 15:

“Si Pangulo pala nag-check in dito two nights and one day lang sila ang dami nila kasama, si Angelo Reyes at madami pang iba, mga 50 sila. Grabe ang gastos nila 150,000 dirham lang naman ang mga kuwarto kada gabi, times P12 per dirham equals P1,800,000!!!

“Mga fine wine ang in-order at mga Wagyu beef, ito ‘yung steak na pinaka-mahal, at champagne Dom Perignon.

“Tapos ’yung taga-Mindanao na governor ata ’yun, ang in-order na cognac ay ’yung 800 dirham (x P12) per shot, e naka 14 shots lang naman siya...

“They really enjoy ‘yung stay nila dito . . . while everybody else in the Philippines is suffering.”

Public officials should know that even in other lands the walls have eyes. Nine million Filipino overseas workers are out there watching their every move. Malacañang may issue broad denials, like the $20,000-dinner in Manhattan’s Le Cirque supposedly being “simple”, but the truth will out. In fact, while the Palace was downplaying that ostentatious party, another US paper reported an earlier splurge at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in DC.

The President’s men might have thought that keeping the events off limits to the nosy Manila press would make them free to misbehave. But other nationalities are concerned about what’s happening to the wealth of Third World countries in the hands of despots and plunderers. The New York Post item on the Le Cirque bash mentioned the thievery of Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia. That’s because Americans suspect the ex-army comptroller to have filched US military aid to RP. The US doesn’t like being kicked around, and neither do other aid donors. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent ultimatum for Arroyo to pay Fraport was a warning to her admin too to stop extorting from the airport builder. Some amounts earlier paid to Arroyo officials and where have been documented at the settlement hearings in Washington in 2007.

Malacañang has been opaque about the true costs of Arroyo’s frequent foreign junkets. She refuses to account with the taxpayer whose money she’s using. It’s no different from her Statement of Assets and Liabilities showing her wealth to have doubled due to stock investments, but not listing in what companies she owns shares. But like what happened when Marcos fell from power, cronies will come clean and tell on Arroyo after June 2010. They may even surrender the shares on suspicion of being ill gotten. As for the extravagant travel expenses, toiling Filipinos overseas must be incensed at how their leaders overindulge. I won’t be surprised if from now on they hound Arroyo et al and report what she buys, eats, and hires. Who knows, embassy and consulate staffs might just start the ball rolling. They’re the ones assigned to charter jets and limos, book hotels and restaurants, and purchase gifts and tokens.

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Their stories jibe. First, ex-Speaker Joe de Venecia revealed that Arroyo had nearly imposed martial law in late 2005. This was to hang on to power at the height of the Hello Garci exposé of her rigging the 2004 polls. Then, ex-defense secretary Avelino Cruz denounced the recent spate of bombings as reminiscent of contrived violence to justify emergency rule in 2005. Now it’s ex-ambassador to the US Albert del Rosario recounting his refusal to defend before Washington officials the indefensible suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.

Malacañang will surely badmouth del Rosario, as it did de Venecia and Cruz. But it can’t diminish the fact that the three are well respected by world leaders. By contrast, the present Palace occupant, Barack Obama’s coordinator of US ties with ASEAN, is much hated at home.

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Reader Mel G. writes: “Arroyo’s lawyer Romulo Macalintal justified her opulent travels thus, ‘Kayo bang mga taga-media, kayo bang nagpapalabas niyan, could you say that you are also moral and wala kayong bahid-dungis?’ What’s wrong with the picture? Apart from diverting from the issue, Mac was also quite careless. His statement simply admits guilt. He is saying that media is just as immoral as they are.”

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Condolences to Makati Councilor Jun-Jun Binay and family on the untimely demise of his beloved wife Kennely Ann . . . Arnel F. de Guzman, sociologist and migrant workers advocate, passed away Saturday after a lingering illness. His body lies in state at Arlington Memorial Chapels, Araneta Avenue, Sta. Mesa, Quezon City. Cremation tomorrow 10 a.m . . . Special invitation to resident and alumni brods of Sigma Kappa Pi Fraternity chapters in Baguio, Pangasinan, Central Luzon, Laguna and Quezon: join the 41st anniversary party on Sept. 1, Tuesday, starting 6 p.m., at Moomba Bar and Grill, Mother Ignacia corner Roces Avenues, Quezon City.

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“Hate the sins of the world but not the world itself, for it is God’s gift. It remains a gift though we have mangled it by sin.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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