A lawmaker filed a formal complaint Wednesday against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the Office of the Ombudsman over the controversial $20,000 dinner treat for her and her entourage in New York by the brother of the Philippines' second richest congressman. In his letter-complaint addressed to Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez, Congressman Walden Bello urged the constitutional body to look into the issue as public officials involved in the incident may be held liable for violating laws, including the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, the Revised Penal Code, and Presidential Decree 46, which makes it punishable for public officials and employees to receive gifts on any occasion. Bello said the “astounding” cost of the dinner “raises a clear possibility” that there was a violation of the law which states that “public officials shall lead modest lives appropriate to their positions and income” and that “they shall not engage in extravagant or ostentatious displays of wealth.” “In no way can such a level of expenditure be characterized as ‘modest',” he said. Bello said even if the dinner was not paid from public funds as claimed by Press Secretary Cerge Remonde – who said Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez was the one who took the bill – the incident can still be considered as a form of indirect bribery. “At any rate, the concerned officials should be made to explain why such an extravagant expense was incurred in the first place, who were the public officials present and where the funds came from,” Bello said. The New York Post reported the controversial dinner on Aug. 7, saying, “The economic downturn hasn't persuaded everyone to pinch pennies ... Arroyo was at Le Cirque the other night with a large entourage enjoying the good life. ...” Meanwhile in Malacanang, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Arroyo is expected to be choosier in accepting dinner invitations from her allies to avoid another controversy. Ermita said they would have “second thoughts” and be “more circumspect” when invited to banquets or any occasion. But Ermita insisted they find nothing wrong with the President and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo's acceptance of a dinner treat from Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez on the occasion of their 41st wedding anniversary last Aug. 2. Ermita also tried to deflect criticisms that the president was insensitive to the plight of the Filipinos, saying that media should look into the spending of other government officials and politicians who treat friends and supporters in upscale hotels and restaurants in Metro Manila. “Just move around, ask the restaurants in Metro Manila who are giving birthday parties (that cost) as much as half a million pesos or one million pesos and then .. relate it to our problem of hunger. It's a matter of how you treat the subject matter,” Ermita told reporters in a press briefing Wednesday.
