No Rolexes in Christmas gift-giving at the House

IN A PLACE where giving and accepting gifts is considered naughty not nice, the tradition of exchanging Christmas presents is alive and well in the House of Representatives.

In spite of their reputation for lavish lifestyles, members of the 16th Congress swapped surprisingly simple and modest gifts. In the days leading to Christmas Day, a lawmaker was more likely to give—or receive—a box of “otap” or a crate of “suha” than a Birkin bag or a Rolex watch.

For starters, the Speaker of the House, Feliciano Belmonte Jr., gave zero Christmas presents to his peers this year. “I gave birthday gifts to all of them, each one personal, but not Christmas gifts,” he said in an interview.

No fancy presents

In past years, however, Belmonte had been known to send fancy Christmas presents such as tea sets or commemorative Amorsolo plates, according to his colleagues.

“It seems there are fewer gifts this year than in the past. Probably because it’s an election year, and the congressmen are trying to save up money for their campaign,” a congressional aide observed.

But Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo offered a simpler explanation.

“If you need to send out 300 gifts, and if each gift costs P1,000, that would already amount to P300,000. And a gift of P1,000 is not extravagant at all,” he said. “I’d say 99.5 percent of the gifts from lawmakers are modest gifts because you don’t want to spend more than that.”

There are 288 members of the lower chamber. While some of the more generous legislators sent out gifts to all of them, most others opted to give presents only to those belonging to their clique.

“It’s like a classroom,” said Cibac party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna. “There are people you click with. And because of the lack of time, there are some whose personalities you don’t jibe with, so no gifts for them,” he said.

‘Puto, kutsinta’

Taking that analogy further, Quimbo said: “For everybody, you give them a nice Kilometrico ball pen, but for the people you’re close to, you give them a Batman car.”

Quimbo said he gifted his colleagues with “puto at kutsinta” from a local delicacy shop in his city. “They are tiny brown puto with squares of cheese on top,” he said in a phone interview.

But to his closest friends in the chamber, the Liberal Party congressman gave scotch glasses embossed with the recipients’ initials.

Tugna, on the other hand, gave bags of rice from Bocaue town in Bulacan to his “classmates,” or his circle of friends in the House, including Representatives Dakila Carlo Cua of Quirino and Luigi Quisumbing of Cebu.

Some of the more flamboyant House members also did away with extravagant gifts in this season of excess.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, widow of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, gifted her colleagues with a bottle of “Imeldifique” cooking wine her family launched in December, according to a Congress insider.

It’s not known what holiday gifts boxing hero and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao gave to his colleagues. But in previous Christmases, he had given the lawmakers miniature boxing gloves and a tiny replica of his championship belt.

Three years ago, Pacquiao, the richest congressman and the only billionaire in the House, gave his colleagues a TechnoMarine watch. (He had an endorsement deal with the brand.)

Millionaires row

All House members, except for three, are millionaires or higher, based on their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth in 2014.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, a senatorial candidate, sent out holiday cards and chess sets to the other congressmen, his media liaison officer Carl Ala said.

The cards bore a message thanking the lawmakers for their support for some of his proposed laws. Underneath, he scribbled a separate handwritten message. “The friendlier he is to the lawmaker, the longer the personal message,” Ala said.

Other members of the Makabayan bloc gave local produce as gifts. Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis gave out bags of organic rice, while Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna gave out “suha” or pomelo fruit from his native Davao.

Quimbo said the gifts were the lawmakers’ way of promoting and supporting local industries in their districts.

Local products

“The general theme for all the gifts is that it always has something to do with the products of their area,” he said. “If you’re from an agricultural place, you will give away red rice or banana chips.”

He said one of the most interesting Christmas presents he received was a foot rug made of abaca from Diwa party-list Rep. Emmeline Aglipay-Villar. “It was made by women who have had livelihood training benefits,” he said.

“It’s really a confluence, a synergy of your advocacy and at the same time, you’re giving aguinaldo. It’s a great way to advertise your place,” Quimbo said.

Any gift that’s branded or imported is frowned upon, said Tugna, “because that’s too much like you’re trying to curry favor.”

Under Republic Act No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Practices for Public Officials and Employees, government officials are actually prohibited from accepting gifts of any sort.

The law states that “public officials and employees shall not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of monetary value from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected by the functions of their office.”

Violations are punishable with a jail term not exceeding five years, or a fine not exceeding P5,000, or both.

But are lawmakers, as public officials, prohibited by law from accepting gifts from their fellow public officials on special occasions like Christmas?

The law actually makes it clear: Yes, Christmas gifts are covered, but it also partly depends on the value of the gift.

“Receiving any gift” is defined under RA 6713 as the act of “accepting directly or indirectly, a gift from a person other than a member of his family or relative… even on the occasion of a family celebration or national festivity like Christmas, if the value of the gift is neither nominal nor insignificant, or the gift is given in anticipation of, or in exchange for, a favor.”