MANILA, Philippines—In effect it’s like fiddling while Rome burns.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is drawing heavy flak for continuing her “junket” in the United States instead of heading home to help her people cope with tragedy.
In a text message, Sen. Panfilo Lacson Tuesday said the President was being “insensitive” to the widespread damage wrought by Typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen) by choosing to stay abroad while Philippine officials and ordinary folk scrambled to pick up the pieces.
Lacson said Ms Arroyo and her party, made up virtually of her entire Cabinet and a good number of members of the House of Representatives, should have immediately returned in view of the high death toll in the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars.
“We need her more here. She is supposed to be the mother of this country. She should have more delicadeza (propriety),” he said.
Rolex Suplico, vice governor of hard-hit Iloilo province, said all the representatives of the province’s five congressional districts and of Iloilo City’s lone district—Arthur Defensor, Ferjenel Biron, Janette Garin, Judy Syjuco, Niel Tupas Jr. and Raul Gonzalez Jr.—were on the ground helping out.
“Yes, all are here except PGMA (Ms Arroyo). We need a leader. I urge her to cut short her trip and return to the Philippines as soon as possible,” Suplico said.
“We need a visible, working leader at this crucial time,” he said.
Pacquiao fight
Lacson said that even without the typhoon damage and sea disaster, Ms Arroyo should have been sensitive to the surge in prices of fuel and food that had been burdening the public.
Lacson said the government’s efforts to cut costs—such as the much-criticized decision to move the Independence Day holiday to June 9 from June 12—had all been put to waste because of the “lavish” spending for the huge delegation accompanying the President.
Members of this delegation have come under fire because of their avowed intention to hop off to Las Vegas and watch Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao in action against Mexican-American David Diaz on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Ms Arroyo’s working visit to the United States was “too extravagant and outrageous.”
“In a time of severe economic crisis and calamity, government must take the lead in practicing austerity. What we are seeing with the Arroyo administration is the exact opposite. Having 59 congressmen, one senator and 10 Cabinet secretaries on a foreign trip doesn’t do the country any good. If anything, it is the height of insensitivity,” said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr.
“When you think of how poor people are being squeezed by the value-added tax while government officials can take junkets just like that, you just feel outraged. Just how many of these congressmen actually plan to stay in the US to watch the Pacquiao fight? How many are planning to come home immediately to attend to their constituents?” Reyes said.
In an e-mailed statement, Bayan-USA chair Chito Quijano said a “rapid action team” of protesters would picket Ms Arroyo in the cities that she would visit and raise the issues of corruption, human rights violations and the US military presence in the Philippines.
“Ms Arroyo’s appalling record of human rights violations continues to worsen with continuing extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances,” Quijano said.
Embarrassment
But leaders of the House continued to defend the trip of the President and her party at this critical time.
Speaker Prospero Nograles said the congressmen who joined the trip were using their own funds and their own time to be with Ms Arroyo in Washington and New York.
Speaking in the same vein, House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor said it would be embarrassing if Ms Arroyo canceled the trip that had been scheduled as early as several months back.
“It’s too late for the President to back out. If the President were to cancel, it would be a national embarrassment. This is not an ordinary trip,” Defensor said.
In a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer from the United States, Nograles said: “The trip of President Gloria was long scheduled. The storm called Frank had no scheduled arrival.
“All the congressmen who may have timed their vacation with the President’s schedule are on their own personal time and expense and [are] not spending public funds. They are free to travel because Congress is on sine die adjournment.”
Nograles said he had been informed that no House funds were released for the congressmen’s accommodations and airfare.
He stressed that he flew to the United States using his own funds.
Asked whether the representatives of congressional districts hard-hit by Frank should cut their trip and hurry home, Nograles said: “First line of defense are local officials. Congressmen just look for national funds to help out.”
Missing the point
In a subsequent text message coursed through his public information staff, Nograles said lawmakers from provinces affected by Frank should indeed go home to “attend to their constituents’ needs.”
He said he was sure that the lawmakers had “already booked their flight back home.”
But in a statement, the Black & White Movement (BWM) said Nograles “missed the point” when he said that the House was on a break and that local officials could handle the situation.
“The President issued a flood of directives to prove she cares even if she’s abroad, and to justify her trip. But her directives are mere scraps of paper because some of them, requiring congressional action, can’t be attended to. A quorum for the House, for example, would be impossible,” the BWM said.
“We would think better of these officials if they had been in their districts within hours of the storm, rolling up their sleeves, ready to comfort and aid and organize relief efforts. [Ms Arroyo] could have cancelled the trip and taken the helm,” it said, noting that Sen. Richard Gordon “saw what was coming and stayed home to attend to the Red Cross.”
Roll call
Sources in the House said among those who made the trip with the President were her sons, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo and Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Arroyo, and Deputy Speakers Raul del Mar of Cebu and Amelita Villarosa of Mindoro Occidental.
A check with their respective offices and staff confirmed that the others in the delegation were Representatives Rizalina Seachon-Lanete (Masbate), Danilo Suarez (Quezon), Joseph Santiago (Catanduanes), Teodulo Coquilla (Eastern Samar), Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Andres Salvacion Jr. (both of Leyte) and Nelson Dayanghirang (Davao Oriental).
Not with Arroyo
Other lawmakers who were on the trip, according to House sources, were Representatives Monico Puentevella (Bacolod), Anton Lagdameo Jr. (Davao del Norte), Roger Mercado (Southern Leyte), Irwin Tieng (Buhay party-list), Jose Zubiri III (Bukidnon), Rachel Arenas (Pangasinan) and Mitch Cajayon (Caloocan).
Deputy Majority Leader Roman Romulo called the Inquirer from Washington.
Romulo said his group—including Zambales Rep. Antonio Diaz, Muntinlupa Rep. Rufino Biazon and Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas—was separate from Ms Arroyo’s delegation.
He said his group was authorized by the House leadership to make representations with US lawmakers in connection with the veterans equity bill pending in the US Congress. Reports from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Norman Bordadora and Jerome Aning
