On Field Trips and Dinners...

The past 2 weeks have been a media frenzy over expensive dinners and a 65-person entourage. Yes, the controversial GMA state visit or rather the state field trip to the White House.

I totally agree! It was a very extravagant field trip, 2 dinners amounting to 1.72M pesos ($35,000 USD) is no trivial matter, specially at this time of Global Financial Crisis.

Here are my thoughts:

1. On the spending of $20,000 USD on a french dinner. Well, it would be the standard or normal amount you will spend, if you wine and dine at a restaurant, where it takes 3 weeks to a month to get a reservation, then feed 65 people.

Then another $15,000 USD on a steak dinner. Well, if I were again dining at the finest steakhouse in Washington DC, with 65 close friends, for sure I will run up the same bill.

2. I think the warm summer air or the jetlag got to most of them. They were all thinking this was a field trip to the White House and not a business trip sponsored by the Filipino tax payers. Some delikadesa and personal ethics should have been appreciated.

I mean if it were on personal time, or a personal vacation, sure... splurge all you want. You all should have known better that the timing of the trip was at a time when the nation was mourning the loss of the simple and humble Saint of Democracy.
Hence, the after math.

3. With 1.72M pesos, I can

- build 2 schools with 10 furnished classrooms, 2 teacher's lounges, 1 computer lab, 2 5 door bathrooms, a pantry and a soccer field.

- buy 1,146 families one cavan of rice to last them a month.

- send 138 high school students to school for one whole year, including all allowances, not just the tuition fees.

- build a marine sanctuary in Malcapuya Island, Coron, Palawan.

- build 6 water irrigation pumps to cover 6-10 hectares of farm land.

But then again, that's just me...

4. So what happened to the trip???
This is still something nobody has brought up, spoken of, or even mentioned!

President Barrack Obama invites the delegation of GMA, the first Asian leader to be invited to the White House and we still don't know why???

I find it really odd that the Washington Post and the New York Post would feature dinner tabs. I mean so what! Who cares about how much a foreign dignitary spends for dinner? Is this news worthy for the American readers? Is this something that will affect the US readers directly?

Or is this plain diversion... Causing the Filipinos to march to the streets and the media have a field day on expensive dinners.

I have always believed that the US will never give up their hold on the Philippines. The country being an archipelago and right smack in the middle of everything, makes us the best site for naval and air bases. Geographically, we are at the best vantage point to strategically place carriers, subs, planes, personnel, supplies, and medical facilities in case war breaks loose.

My point is, what could be so urgent that GMA has to fly all the way to the US, and discuss with the US president? Is it the continuing power struggle of North Korea? Is it strengthening ties for Balikatan, reviving VFA? Is it allowing more military personnel and facilities within Philippines waters?

ie. USS George Washington an aircraft carrier that can hold 70 F-21s, 5000 personnel and one of the largest carriers, docking at Manila Bay... a coincidence?

5. Maybe I am just over thinking stuff... maybe I have to take it at face value... My country is being ruled and taken advantage of, by half-wits who take pleasure in steak dinners and over priced wines, which they won't be able to afford on their regular monthly wages, even if they sold their grandchildren's children to work and slave in the government.

And the US President just wanted to say "Hello, Madam President! We wish to continue doing business with your country with no strings attached..."

Hmmm...