Public funds used in Europe junket, Joson claims

The 34 lawmakers who traveled with President Arroyo to Europe used taxpayers’ money and not their own personal funds, maverick Rep. Edno Joson of Nueva Ecija claimed over the weekend.

“Personal funds? Tell that to the Marines,” he said.

Malacañang had invited the 34 House members to travel with Mrs. Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo to France, Spain and Britain. The presidential entourage is now in Kuwait.

Aside from the 34, pro-administration Senators Edgardo Angara, Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Juan Miguel Zubiri also joined the trip.

When news of the big congressional delegation leaked, Malacañang said it did not fund the travel of the lawmakers it invited to join the President. It claimed that the senators and congressmen paid for their trip.

Some members of the House group said they used “personal funds.”

Joson, an independent, said if the Palace funded the 34 congressmen and congresswomen, it surely used taxpayers’ money.

But if it is true that Malacañang did not shoulder the House delegation’s expenses, the lawmakers still spent public funds, he said.

He said starting in July, when the 14th Congress convened, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., to avoid allegations of favoritism in connection with junkets, has distributed funds for domestic and foreign travel equally among the 240 members of his chamber.

He added that each member gets P75,000 to P80,000 a month for expenses in going to their districts and for foreign travel, and that each must have already received nearly P500,000 since July.

“So these funds must have been used by those traveling with the Arroyos. They cannot be personal funds; they are taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Joson has proposed the imposition of a travel ban on members of the House, especially while Congress is in session.

He said if the House has to be represented in a parliamentary conference or a presidential visit, it should send a small delegation.

“We can send a delegation of two or three members. Our work is here, not abroad,” he said.

He said it is common knowledge among congressmen and senators that parliamentary conferences such as those held by the  International Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-parliamentary Organization and the International Labor Organization (ILO), and presidential trips abroad are junkets.

“You show up on the first day of the conference or the presidential visit and pretend to work. After that, it is all sightseeing and vacation, relaxation and shopping,” he added.

The Palace invitation for 34 House members to join the Arroyos’ trip to Europe is contained in a letter sent to De Venecia by presidential protocol chief Marciano Paynor Jr. last Nov. 16. Four of those invited were to bring their spouses, while another was to travel with her son.

Five of those in Paynor’s original list did not join the presidential trip and were replaced by other congressmen.

Earlier reports said the Palace had allocated $5,000 for the business-class tickets of each member of the presidential party, $500 a night for hotel accommodation, $500 a day for food and $3,000 as allowance for the entire trip.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye assured the people that the lawmakers and Cabinet officials with the presidential entourage were spending their own funds.