GUAGUA, Pampanga -- Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo could not explain the silence of Leyte counterpart Martin Romualdez over the latter's supposed spending of P1 million for a dinner he hosted for President Macapagal-Arroyo and her party in New York last week.

"Well I don't know. That's up to him but that is his call," Rep. Arroyo said on the silence of Romualdez over the issue.

"The mere fact that he paid for the dinner during the anniversary [of my parents], I think I should really thank him for that," he said.

He said the Leyte congressman "can easily afford" paying the bill at La Cirque restaurant on August 2 during Arroyo's visit to the United States.

He did not elaborate, telling reporters: "You all know that."

"What is important for me is that there's not a single centavo used from taxpayers' money and secondly, although someone sponsored it, it's not from our family," he said.

The dinner, he said, "was just given in her (President Arroyo) honor."

(In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer?s Visayas Bureau, an aide of Congressman Romualdez, lawyer Nick Esmale, said Daniel, the representative?s brother who works as an architect in New York, paid for the dinner.)

In contrast to the lavish dinner, the mass oath-taking of 311 Pampanga elected officials to the Lakas-Kampi-CMD on Monday here was austere.

It was held at the barangay (village) gymnasium of San Antonio, one of the five villages that President Arroyo visited for her 22nd trip to her home province of Pampanga since February.

President Arroyo is the national chair of the merged party while her son is the party's Pampanga and Central Luzon chair.

Rep. Arroyo was evasive about his political plan and that of his mother's in 2010. The frequent visits of President Arroyo had fueled speculations she was vying for a congressional seat through the second district where her son is the incumbent representative.

"All I want is I'll give her the freedom she wants and she deserves," the younger Arroyo said.

Asked if he was sure of a re-election, he said: "In our political party, there's a rule that said, that it's the incumbent [that has the advantage] and I have one more term and I'm the incumbent."

Asked if he was running for Pampanga governor, Arroyo was evasive, saying anybody who would run for that post must undergo the party's selection process.

Asked if he had the support of the family, Arroyo said: "I will not do anything that will cause a hindrance to the family's relationship. We must realize that we will not be in politics forever but your family will be with you through thick and thin."

Asked if his answer should douse speculations that Ms Arroyo was running in the second district, he said: "I believe they should not even talk about that because first and foremost that's a long time from now and anyway? assuming there is no legal impediment to anybody seeking any elective position, it is their constituency that will reject or accept any politician."

"It's useless to talk about it because at the end of the day it will be the voters who will reject or accept that specific person," he said.

On the frequent trips of the President to the second district and services she has been giving there, he said: "I don't think there's a law barring her from visiting her home province. She has also visited other provinces. Perhaps, people just count the times of her coming."