Joker still Senate Scrooge

MANILA, Philippines -Sen. Joker Arroyo is still the thriftiest senator when it comes to office expenditures in 2008.

Arroyo, who holds the title “Scrooge of Congress” for the past 18 years, was elated after learning that he remains at the bottom of the list of senators who spent their budget from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 in 2008.

The Commission on Audit’s recently released itemized list of expenses of senators for 2008 showed that Arroyo had the lowest bill among the 23 current senators with P12, 646,014.28.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. is the second thriftiest with expenses worth P14,382,533.54, followed by Sen. Edgardo Angara with P14,506,866.06 and Sen. Richard Gordon with P14,642,497.93. The four carried the frugality banner.

Arroyo’s frugality with the legislative budget started when he was in the House of Representatives where he had no staff, except for a driver and a utility man. He carried his work ethic to the Senate when he was elected in 2001 and had a skeletal staff of three persons.

Since Arroyo joined the government in 1986 as executive secretary up to the present, the senator said he has never traveled abroad using government money.

Arroyo refused to be the chairman of any committee in the present 14th Congress after he became part of the minority after the coup staged by current Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile against Sen. Manuel Villar in November 2008.

Senator Arroyo had chaired the Blue Ribbon Committee, the Public Services Committee, and the Justice and Human Rights Committee in the 12th and 13th Congress.

Arroyo does not have a media officer and instead writes his own press releases, discusses only issues he considers important and avoids subjects that he feels are meaningless.

He occasionally drops by the Senate press office and enjoys bantering with reporters.

Meanwhile, Senator Angara welcomed the report that showed him among the thriftiest senators. 

He said this should be the “good news” that Senate reporters should write about, not the exchange of barbs by senators who are divided over the C-5 Road committee report against Villar.

Actors are biggest spenders

Actors turned politicians are consistently the biggest spenders, the COA report showed: In descending order, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada (P17.521 million), Bong Revilla Jr. (P17.479 million), and Francis Pangilinan (P17.224 million) whose wife is megastar Sharon Cuneta.

The three big spenders were also among the biggest spenders in 2007, except for Sen. Lito Lapid who held back and earned number seven spot with expenditures totaling P15.335 million.

Estrada defended the “huge” expenses he incurred in 2008. 

“They may have gotten the report from the offices of each senator. All of my staff members are under the payroll of my office. When I became Senate President Pro Tempore, the budget increased and then my staff members also grew. I don’t think it’s an issue, the budget goes to my staff, not to my pockets,” Estrada explained.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan was the biggest spender of all senators with P17.902-million expenses.

Honasan explained that his expenses increased because of the several committees that he chairs. 

The rebel soldier-turned-politician is chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Committee on Energy. He was also former head of the Committee on Agrarian Reform.

Among the presidential candidates, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III spent the most with P16.791 million worth of expenses, Nacionalista Party presidential bet Sen. Villar (P15.766 million), Sen. Jamby Madrigal (P15.568 million), and Richard Gordon (P14.462-million) who ranked fourth in the overall frugality data.

Among the senators who are running for vice president in the May polls, Aquino’s running mate Sen. Manuel Roxas spent a little less that Sen. Loren Legarda. 

Roxas who spent P15.038 million is the fifth thriftiest senator. Legarda’s expenses were pegged at P15.451 million.

Among the senators who are running for re-election, Estrada is tops with P17.521 million, followed by Revilla a close second with P17.479 million, Enrile (P16.295 million), Pia Cayetano (P15.925 million), Miriam Defensor-Santiago (P15.377 million) and Lapid with P15.355 million.

A senator said that detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV “is a class by himself” when he was one of the top five spenders. Trillanes who is facing rebellion charges is the fourth biggest spender. “How he could spend P17,280,709.79 when he is confined remains a mystery,” a senator said.

Enrile explained that Trillanes is entitled to travel expenses like any other senator. 

“It will be up to him (Trillanes) how he allocates his travel expenses,” Enrile said.