All the brouhaha regarding the one million peso dinner of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts stem from the fact that millions of Filipinos are starving while she is living the high life and jet-setting around the world trying to sell our country.
But first let us stick to the facts. This controversy started when Gloria during her last visit to the United States dined at the world famous Le Cirque restaurant in New York. Reportedly, the total bill amounted to $19, 866 (P1 million). Now there are also reports that aside from the Le Cirque dinner, Gloria and her clique also had another extravagant dinner this time in Washington, which amounted to more than $15,000 (P700, 000).
Add to this the fact that a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report said that Gloria's declared net worth more than doubled since 2001 to 2008 from P66.8 million to P143.54, for a growth rate of 114 per cent. Compare this to what is happening to at least 3.7 million Filipino families experiencing involuntary hunger or the 2,643,799 Bicolanos living below the poverty line and we can see the extreme callousness of the so-called president. While she is wining and dining in New York and Washington, our hunger stricken country men are mourning the death of Corazon "Cory" Aquino and trying all they can to eke out a living.
Now to parry all the criticisms regarding the outrageous dinner, Malacañang is saying that nothing is wrong with it and that the one who spent for it was Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez or his architect brother Daniel but these two are denying the Palace's claim. Malacañang lawyer Romulo Macalintal even had the gall to attack the media for exposing yet another illegal act of the so-called chief executive.
Party-list lawmakers and senators are up in arms regarding this display of hypocrisy and are proposing an investigation. Some already filed corruption charges against Gloria in the Office of the Ombudsman because under the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials, Presidential Decree No. 46 and the anti-graft law these acts are punishable. Now, some are already discussing that another impeachment case must be filed against Gloria based on the controversial dinners and the sudden increase of her declared assets.
The question is, after all this talk is over would Gloria be held accountable for this latest transgression and for the more grave ones as well. The answer lies once again with the Filipino people and their actions.
Carl Ala