Extravagance Amidst Poverty

Both Philippine and American media have reported about the dinner splurges of Gloria Arroyo and her entourage in the July US visit. One dinner was at Le Cirque, a posh French restaurant in Manhattan , New York , where the group had caviar, bottles of champagne and a big meal worth $20,000 or P960,000. Another one was at Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Washington D.C. where the assemblage got one of the restaurant's private rooms and was served lobsters, steak and fine wine costing $15,000 or P720,000. A third one was at David Bouley's Restaurant in Broadway where the troop reportedly occupied 5 tables with 8 seats each, with a set of menu costing $150 or P7,200 per person or a set of menu with wine at $245 or P12,000 per head. That meal could have cost about $9,800 or P470,000. For those lavish dinners alone, Arroyo's group spent $44,800 or P2.15 million.

Arroyo's party was composed of about 65 people, including 29 congressmen and 11 cabinet members plus spouses, staff members and security personnel. The group billeted for 3 days at the 5-star Willard Inter-Continental Hotel in Washington D.C. with room rates ranging from $330 or P15,800 per day for single rooms and $5000 or P240,000 per day for luxury suites. For 3 days at Willard assuming they got single rooms only, the 60-member delegation could have spent about $59,400 or P2.85 million. Reports claimed that Arroyo's company later marched to one of the most expensive hotels in New York, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and stayed there for 2 days with rooms costing $950 or P45,600 per day. The Arroyo couple allegedly got one of the best accommodations at $3,500 or P168,000 per night. The 29 congressmen, 11 cabinet members and the first couple could have spent about $83,000 or P4 million at Waldorf.

Although these figures are shocking for most Filipinos, these are extremely underestimated since we do not have the detailed financial report of the July US visit. According to "Focus on Global South," Arroyo and her entourage spent about P66 million in the US visit last June 2008. No matter how hard he tries, Speaker Prospero Nograles cannot stop us from expressing our disgust and anger. It is deeply saddening how this leader and her allies got the nerve to swallow the food and sleep comfortably in their suites, while half of 90 million Filipinos live on less than P100 a day and 3.3 million Pinoys experience hunger (World Bank); even as Filipinos' self-rated poverty increased from 53% in 2007 to 56% in 2008 (Social Weather Station); and though housing needs for the poor have reached 3.7 million (Caucus of Development NGOs).

The poverty situation in the Bicol Region worsened between 2003 and 2006 with the addition of 38,653 more poor families. The total number of poor families reached 422,278 representing 41.8% of the total number of families in the Bicol Region in 2006 and 10.1% higher than the 383,625 poor families in 2003 (National Statistical Coordination Board).