MANILA, June 24, 2009-A church official is seeking transparency in expenditures of President Arroyo's foreign trips.
At trying times, he said, every peso that can be saved by the government counts and every trip abroad by the President should be accounted for.
Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) media director said the call for transparency does not zero in only on Mrs. Arroyo but also on other government officials.
"All government agencies should be transparent especially during these times when we are in an economic crisis...also, since this is the issue of the times, it is only right that there is disclosure so that we could erase the doubts from the minds of the public," Quitorio said.
He admitted that the Arroyo administration is often doubted and that one way to put an end to that is by being truthful.
Quitorio made this comment after Senator Panfilo Lacson, who is the chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said that the Senate would scrutinize the budget for foreign trips of the Office of the President (OP) to make sure taxpayers' money was not being wasted.
Lacson believes that a huge amount of the OP funds are spent on her foreign trips and that these accusations could be backed up by Commission on Audit (COA) documents. (CBCPNews)