What's your take on the lavish dinners said to have been taken by PGMA's entourage in New York during their recent US trip?

Ed Ledesma, Iloilo City: Just a big bunch of provincial politicos splurging in the big city using taxpayers’ money. So what else is new? It’s disgusting!  

Edgar Artates, Parañaque City: I’d be more embarrassed if that New York newspaper reported that the President of the Philippines and her entourage could only afford to eat at McDonald’s.  

How insensitive of PGMA

Luis Bardillon, Parañaque City: Granting that Rep. Martin Romualdez did pay for that lavish dinner at Le Cirque, it is still not acceptable, since hundreds of Filipinos are starving, especially in Leyte, where he is a congressman. PGMA is now being tagged as the new Imelda of our country. I just hope that his money is not part of the ill-gotten wealth acquired during the Marcos era. Paging PCGG.

June Deoferio, Cavite: It’s sad that Filipino taxpayers’ hard-earned taxes must have been used to finance that lavish dinner.  

Ruel Bautista, Laguna: It’s very insensitive of PGMA to indulge in such a lavish dinner, knowing how her countrymen are tightening their belts just to make ends meet.  

Eric Gopilan, Quezon City: It’s unfair to us common citizens. Here we are, tightening our belts, while they have lavish dinners and spend extravagantly.  

Dave Tabaniag, Metro Manila: It would not have been an issue if there had been a strong middle class, if there had been no huge gap or chasm between the few rich and the majority who are poor.  

Sahlee Reyes, Las Piñas City: It isn’t wrong to dine lavishly but the mere thought that people back home are wallowing in poverty makes the whole scenario so odious. As President of the land, PGMA has an avowed responsibility to her countrymen and should set an example. Didn’t it bother her that every spoonful she had could have fed at least 50 starving families back home? It’s such unnecessary extravagance! Where has the dignity and integrity of the Highest Office gone?  

Johann Lucas, Quezon City: It’s insensitive for a head of state of a Third World country to allow herself to be treated to such a lavish dinner, unless it’s an official function.  

Emeldinand Motas, Baguio City: Sana naman hindi ganun kamahal ang dinner nila. Dapat nilang isipin si Juan dela Cruz na naghihirap dito sa bansa. The dinner should be somewhat equal to the expense of a local dinner.  

Rowena Remiendo, Quezon City: I think that lavish dinner shows how insensitive PGMA and her camp are. It’s proof of her lavish lifestyle.  

PGMA deserves it as a head of state

Luisito Vallo, Pangasinan: Taking into consideration the size of the entourage and the high standard of living in New York, I think I can say that it was just a modest dinner fit for a head of state and its high officials.   

Antonio Aguas, Quezon City: We should be proud that our President and her entourage can eat at expensive restaurants. That has no relevance to Filipinos who are hungry.  

Carlito Pajaro, Pasig City: PGMA deserves such treatment since she is our President. So degrading naman if she eats in an ordinary restaurant. Inggit lang ang kontra.  

Imee Aglibot, USA: There is no use computing the exchange rate. The dinners took place in NY and you don’t expect a President to eat in a local burger joint. The amount is just minimal. Don’t fret.  

Norberto Robles, Taguig: This is a tempest in a teacup and an exploitation of people’s ignorance. It’s incumbent for any leader, when on foreign soil, to reside and dine only in places befitting a head of state.  

Manuel Abejero, Pangasinan: She is the head of state and has the privilege to stay and eat in any respectable hotel and restaurant. We are a rich nation pretending to be poor, anyway.  

I find it reprehensible and disgusting

Aldo Apostol, Quezon City: Is this a privilege of a leader that even in the eye of the world’s economic recession, fancy dining is a must?  

Vic Sanchez, Pasig City: Those lavish dinners are reprehensible and utterly disgusting. PGMA is acting like Emperor Nero who fiddled while Rome was burning, feasting on lavish dinners amidst the hunger and poverty of the Filipino people and while we were in deep mourning on the demise of our beloved President Cory Aquino. What is more obnoxious is their refusal to apologize and admit their profligate spending. It is tantamount to saying: “So what?”

Rey Ibalan, Antipolo City: If that is how PGMA and her solon kibitzers splurge tax money in every foreign trip, God bless their souls.  

Ed Gulmatico, Yemen: It adds insult to the injury of suffering and desperate Filipinos wallowing in extreme poverty. Is this their way of taunting the limits of Filipino patience and tolerance? It is also a total affront to all OFWs since it is a widely known belief that OWWA funds are also being used and spent during the foreign travels of these hyenas and vultures we call government officials.  

R. Santos, Isabela: Plain and simple, it’s shameful!  

Making hay while the sun shines

Artemio Tipon, Parañaque City: The Ilocanos have a phrase for it: Kaanon to pay. Translated literally, it means, “Make hay while the sun shines or there might not be a next time.”  

J.R. Mondoñedo Jr., Parañaque City: Let them enjoy it while they’re in power. Hindi na uso ang konsensya or what others will think because this issue will just die down and people will just forget the whole issue.  

No big deal

Dave Velasco, Marinduque: For me, that lavish dinner in New York is normal, having experienced a $2,000 meal with my three sisters in a simple ordinary restaurant.  

Romeo Nabong II, Saudi Arabia: I think there’s nothing wrong about politicians or public officials spending a lot of money on their dinner, etc. if they pay from their own pockets. Let us not sensationalize this NY dinner issue. Even scavengers dream of eating at five-star hotels, not even thinking of his/her fellow magpies.  

Jae Delos Santos, Muntinlupa City: It’s no big deal. Only critics made it controversial for their advantage.  

There is no more delicadeza

Ella Arenas, Pangasinan: It’s the height of insensitivity and hypocrisy. Being the highest official of the land, she has a moral responsibility to be above reproach in all her actions and decisions. To think that plenty of Filipinos are mired in hunger and poverty.  

Jim Veneracion, Naga City: It shows a total absence of delicadeza and sense of propriety. Apparently, shame isn’t in their vocabulary anymore, especially now that their time is almost up.  

Perry Cruz, Parañaque City: Do our government officials, from the President down to her entourage, know anything about delicadeza?  

L.C. Fiel, Quezon City: So much has been said about the topic that it is already giving me a terrible headache and indigestion. The expression “What are we in power for?” has been kept alive and in the pink of health, thanks to Reps. Romualdez, Suarez and their ilk.  

Ignacio Anacta, Metro Manila: Spending $20,000 for a dinner anywhere in the world is indeed lavish, especially if many of your countrymen can’t even eat regularly. Imagine a captain of a ship marooned in her cabin with lavish food and drinks, knowing there are refugees in the ship’s cargo bay that haven’t eaten for two days? Does she care? Maybe she only cares about her entourage. It’s zero delicadeza and very inappropriate!  

Ishmael Calata, Parañaque City: The expensive dinner was very inappropriate at a time like this when the whole world is reeling under the global financial crisis, which has further exacerbated the conditions of the poor in our country. Indeed, the lavish dinner ay labis na labis sa nararapat.  

Dennis Montealto, Mandaluyong City: If it is true, then it was callous and insensitive. It smacks of disregard against the teeming hungry in our country. Shades of Lazarus having his heyday.

Inggit lang sila

Rodolfo Talledo, Angeles City: Are we now a communist state, wherein other people can dictate the way we spend our own money? Why mind a host and the manner in which he would like to entertain his guest? If the critics are crying for the poor, why don’t they give their belongings to the poor? I doubt they would do that!  

C.B. Manalastas, Manila: What’s wrong with having an expensive dinner, if the money they paid came from their own pockets? With her $20,000 feast in New York, GMA showed the world that Filipinos are worth dining for. Inggit lang ang bumatikos.  

Armando Tavera, Las Piñas City: Those lavish dinners are also held here for any visiting head of state. Di kaya masama lang ang loob ng mga di kasali sa hapunan ni PGMA, et al.?  

Elizabeth Oximer, Negros Occidental: Envy. I guess they paid for the place and the wine. By the way, wala bang nabilaukan sa kanila?  

Pedro Alagano Sr., Vigan City: It’s only normal in a US setting. The uproar is a continuing effort to malign and put down PGMA. It may boomerang on her bashers sooner or later.  

Felix Ramento, Manila: What’s so scandalous about the $20,000 New York dinner hosted for the 30 or so people with PGMA? Di naman araw-araw ‘yun. Talaga namang ang lakas ng pagka-inggitero natin.  

Why am I not surprised?

Renato Taylan, Ilocos Norte: The group is just being consistent with their lavish lifestyle. Such culinary adventures is attendant to living the good life, their trademark.  

Rose Leobrera, Manila: Bakit, may bago ba diyan? The most garapal administration after the dictator has done it again and again. It was not even the Philippine media that instigated this brouhaha but the US papers.They must have been shocked to see for themselves the way the honorable leader and her entourage devoured their steak and caviar and lobsters and expensive wines while so many Pinoys went hungry.  

Fortunato Aguirre, Bulacan: I’m not a bit surprised. Like their relatives, the hogs and crocs, they are voracious food gobblers. These creatures are insatiable.  

It’s the height of hypocrisy!

C.B. Fundales, Bulacan: I wonder if in the spirit of uprightness, PGMA critics have ever declined lavish banquets given by public servants. Our society teems with hypocrites.  

Juan Deveraturda, Subic, Zambales: Yes, PGMA should lead a good example of thrift and simple living amidst the global financial crisis being experienced by our people, but I think it is the height of hypocrisy for Mayor Binay to criticize her for the lavish, extravagant dinner in. The person he is supporting in the next presidential election in 2010, named Erap, was even more guilty of lavish spending on wine and women when the latter was the occupant of Malacañang.  

The point is…

Ed Alawi, Davao City: I don’t mind the lavish dinners. As President of the country she deserves to dine in five-star restaurants. Detractors should instead look into PGMA’s travel expenses. How much is spent for airfare, hotel bills, and limo service each time the President goes abroad? The amount could be staggering. Also, how can congressmen afford to shell out $20,000 or $15,000 for a dinner? Lavish dinners could just be the tip of the iceberg.  Robert Young Jr., San Juan

They were celebrating the Obama-GMA meeting, a celebration worthy of an emperatriz. The question as to why our congressmen are so rich needs probing.  

Joe Nacilla, Las Piñas City: This is not to defend PGMA, but to express my boredom about the lavish dinner brouhaha that is the daily topic in our papers, radio, and TV. It is a shallow issue exaggerated and sensationalized by those with character flaws, thinking that people are narrow-minded. The real issue should have been: Who is that lady staff who opened a bag full of cash and paid for the $15,000 bill, as alleged by Rep. Suarez? How was she able to bring that large sum of dollars? Is bringing dollars outside the country now unregulated? And who shouldered the fare, hotel accommodations, and other expenses?

Medel Verzosa, Ilocos Sur: Rep. Romualdez should be investigated for that expensive New York dinner. He may be rich, but that generous? Come on, quo vadis, Tacloban?  

This is sensationalism

Jose Fabello Jr., Cagayan de Oro City: Is there really nothing newsworthy to report on the US trip of PGMA but the $20,000 dinner? The dinner was expensive for two people, but not for an entourage!  

Bernard Tansiongco, Metro Manila: PGMA’s entourage should have spent the same amount of money or more in a local restaurant upon their arrival to help pump prime the economy. What do you think? I am really puzzled why there is too much brouhaha in the media about that lavish dinner. Is it meant to create uproar among the people? As always, my observation is that media often favors negative to positive news. Believe me, there are many Filipinos who prefer to read and hear good news, too.  

R. Los Baños, Las Piñas City: The entourage could have ordered soup and toothpick and still would have generated the same bad publicity nonetheless. The President should just take all the criticism as part of the territory. It only proves that we have a vibrant democracy with a freewheeling media that frequently goes overboard and a strong opposition that plays the game by any rules.  

The money could have fed the poor

Cris Rivera, Rizal: A $20,000 dinner in New York and $15,000 dinner in Washington, all for PGMA’s wedding anniversary, cost P1.5 million. As it hurts, tears drop on a poor’s empty plates.  

Lucas Banzon Madamba II, Laguna: The lavish dinners taken by PGMA’s entourage in New York are exorbitantly extravagant. Money that could have been given to those under the poverty line could have helped alleviate poverty and could have helped people to move forward in their lives.

Gerii Calupitan, Muntinlupa City: I don’t go to lavish restaurants anymore ever since my ex-wife Jo left for the US. She showed me the finer things in life and honed my skills. It was a life-changing experience then  you rubbed elbows with the high-brow, stuck out your pinky finger as you toasted Dom Perignon, and then you were charged an arm and a leg for the ambience. Sorry, guys; I’ve outgrown such a showy lifestyle. Ang daming nagugutom na Pinoy, ngayon ka pa mag-gaganyan. As Binay said,$35,000 could have fed 3,000 families three square meals.   

Plain old political gimmickry

Edwin Castillo, Tanauan City: Kaya nga tinawag na “junket”, kasama na dito ang kumain ng masarap na first class. This news is clearly anti-GMA in aid of the election of the opposition in 2010.  

Rey Onate, Palayan City: It is a disguised moral issue to fan a hate campaign. Nakapapangamba ang scenario-making. ‘Di baleng magkawindang- windang ang imahe basta makapanira.  

Rod Villar, Iriga City: This is, once again, plain political gimmickry. Remember that the elections is just around the corner and the trapos are in full gear, weaving intrigues and malicious issues in connivance with some irresponsible practitioners of oligarch-owned/controlled media organizations to gain political mileage and improve their rating in the surveys. Maybe they are sour-graping because they were not included in the entourage, hence the envy and self-pity!  

We shouldn’t meddle

Leonard Villa, Batac City: It’s a private matter, so why should we meddle? How would you feel if you were in the shoes of PGMA and company? Filipinos are too judgmental and pakialamero.  

Misleading

Ed Angeles, Pasay City: Our hotel set dinners average P20,000 for 18-20 persons. New York charges the same, but in dollars. Simple conversion, false and misleading.  

Rex Earlou Calmerin, Iligan City: It sounds more like a world record to me.

Views expressed in this section do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The STAR. The STAR does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of readers exercising their right to free expression. The publication also reserves the right to edit contributions to this section as it sees fit.

NEXT INBOX QUESTION: What was Ninoy Aquino’s best gift to the Filipino people?

If registered, text philstar<space>fb<space>your message and send to 2256 (all networks)

To register, text philstar<space>reg<space>name,gender,birthdate,address and send to 2256 (all networks)

You may also email your views to: [email protected].

(Editor’s Note: We have just added another channel to reach Inbox World via the growing Facebook community. If you have a Facebook account, add up PhilStar Inbox and give us a glimpse of your views on raging issues of the day. Selected comments will be published in The Philippine STAR Inbox World. Readers may also post intriguing questions for other Inbox friends to comment on. See you there.)