Lawmakers on junket with GMA

"joining Mrs. Arroyo’s trip are: Representatives Reylina Nicolas of Bulacan, Ma. Milagros Magsaysay of Zambales, Mary Ann Susano of Quezon City, Rizalina Seachon of Masbate, Herminia Ramiro of Misamis Occidental, Trinidad Apostol of Leyte, Rachel Arenas of Pangasinan"

Villarosa of Kampi cash gift story, 32 other lawmakers with GMA

By Jess Diaz - PhilStar


A lawmaker who pointed to President Arroyo’s party as the source of the P500,000 handed out in Malacañang last Oct. 11 led 32 other members of Congress in a junket to Europe with the Chief Executive.

Deputy Speaker Amelita Villarosa headed the delegation in what opposition lawmakers described as a “junket,” and “by far the biggest delegation of House junketeers.”

Many of the junketeers are members of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) party, whom Villarosa said had distributed cash gifts amounting to P500,000 to lawmakers and local government officials during a meeting in Malacañang last Oct. 11.

An opposition lawmaker said a group of 15 was already big, and that legislators usually avail themselves of junkets when Congress is not in session.

“This is clearly a junket,” the lawmaker said.

“But unlike previous vacations abroad, this is taking place while Congress is in session, and the House is in the middle of deliberations on the Cheap Medicine Bill, which is supposed to be a priority administration measure.”

He could not understand why 34 of his colleagues are joining Mrs. Arroyo in her second trip to Britain and Spain in one and a half years, the lawmaker said.

Presidential son, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo reportedly joined his mother’s trip, but this could not be confirmed.

Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago and Juan Miguel Zubiri, along with some governors, have also been invited to join Mrs. Arroyo in traveling to Spain and the United Kingdom.

Representatives Victoria Reyes of Batangas, Rodolfo Antonino of Nueva Ecija, Nanette Castelo Daza of Quezon City, and Zenaida Angping of Manila, are traveling with their spouses.

Deputy Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and Representatives Antonio Alvarez of Palawan and Rodolfo Albano Jr. of Isabela were invited to join the trip, but they did not go.

“We are busy with the Cheap Medicine Bill,” Gonzales said in an interview. “It’s still hanging.”

Alvarez, as trade and industry committee chairman, is the principal sponsor of the bill.

Albano said he did not go because he thought the group was big. “It’s scandalous,” he said.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said the House did not spend a single centavo for the lawmakers traveling with Mrs. Arroyo.

He did not know who is funding the trip of the members of Congress, he added.

What he knows is that they were invited by Malacañang, and that some of them might be traveling at their own expense, De Venecia said.

In a letter to De Venecia, Palace protocol chief Marciano Paynor Jr. said the more than 30 lawmakers, together with their companions, “have been cleared for inclusion in the delegation of the President.”

“This office respectfully requests the Speaker’s approval for the representatives on the enclosed list to travel with the President during her visits to the abovementioned countries (France, Spain and Britain),” read Paynor’s letter.

Sources told The STAR that the legislators in the entourage have been given business class tickets costing at least $5,000 each, hotel allowance of $500 a night each, and per diem of $3,000 each for the entire trip.

Others joining Mrs. Arroyo’s trip are: Representatives Reylina Nicolas of Bulacan, Ma. Milagros Magsaysay of Zambales, Mary Ann Susano of Quezon City, Rizalina Seachon of Masbate, Herminia Ramiro of Misamis Occidental, Trinidad Apostol of Leyte, Rachel Arenas of Pangasinan;

Antonio Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur, Reynaldo Uy of Samar, Roger Mercado of Southern Leyte, Albert Garcia of Bataan, Monico Puentevella of Bacolod City, Abraham Mitra of Palawan, Arnulfo Go and Datu Pax Mangudadatu of Sultan Kudarat;

Monica Prieto Teodoro of Tarlac, Anna York Bondoc and Aurelio Gonzales of Pampanga, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Leyte, Danilo Suarez of Quezon province, Mark Mendoza of Batangas, Del de Guzman of Marikina, Carmen Cari of Leyte, Sharee Ann Tan of Western Samar, Maria Isabelle Climaco of Zamboanga City, and Carissa Coscolluela of the party-list group Buhay.

The last time Mrs. Arroyo was in Europe was in June last year.

It was in Spain where the Arroyos and several House allies celebrated the birthday of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

After her nine-day European trip, Mrs. Arroyo plans to convene the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) to discuss her priority bills with leaders of Congress.

She announced the plan following criticisms from the Makati Business Club that she is not making enough effort to see her pet bills through Congress.

Among these measures is the Cheap Medicine Bill, which is pending in the House, but already approved by the Senate on third and final reading.

Another priority bill of Mrs. Arroyo is the one seeking to exempt millions of minimum wage earners from paying income tax.

Up to now, no one from either the administration or its allies has revived this bill, which the Senate killed in the previous Congress.

The House had passed the bill, but senators sat on it until the 13th Congress ended last June 30.

Mrs. Arroyo promised workers tax exemption on May 1, 2006, Labor Day, and again on May 1 this year, and again in her State of the Nation Address before Congress last July 24.