US running after Caloocan solon

A Caloocan City congressman was sought last month by United States authorities — not for acts of terrorism — but for a $987 (roughly P50,000) refund.

Failing to contact Rep. Enrico Echiverri, the US Embassy in Manila lodged a complaint against him with Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., who referred the matter to the House committee on ethics.

In his letter-complaint dated last Aug. 9, Dr. Michael Anderson, embassy counselor for public affairs, informed De Venecia that in September last year, the US government invited the Caloocan lawmaker and party-list Rep. Diogenes Osabel to visit several American cities under its International Visitors’ Program (IVP).

He said the US provided air tickets and a $170 daily allowance for the three-week program.

However, he said Echiverri skipped the last part of the program lasting four days in Bozeman, Montana and should therefore have returned his $680 allowance, plus his plane ticket from Montana to California.

"The total balance (Echiverri) still owed to the US government for his air ticket and per diem is $980," Anderson added.

He told De Venecia that his office has been trying to contact the lawmaker since his return from the US but that they have not received any answer from him or his staff.

Asked to comment on the embassy’s complaint, the Caloocan congressman said he has already returned the money and the ticket.

He furnished reporters copies of a receipt signed by Heide Bronke, the embassy’s assistant cultural officer. The receipt is dated Aug. 16, a week after Anderson wrote De Venecia.

Echiverri said he has not been able to communicate with the embassy earlier because he was preoccupied with election-related problems in his district.

In fact, he said he was proclaimed only on Aug. 3 and assumed office three days later.

He thanked the US government for having invited him to participate in "a very informative program."