Joker still Scrooge; Noy a top spender

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Joker Arroyo has retained his title of “Scrooge of Congress” or “Kuripot King” for the ninth straight year for being the thriftiest lawmaker, as reflected in the Commission on Audit (COA) expenses report for 2009.

Meantime, the COA said former senator and now President Aquino was one of the top five spenders among the 23 senators, using up P21,552,296.

Of this amount, P11.31 million went to the salaries and other benefits of his staff, P396,635 for meetings and conferences, P101,920 for rental of office space/equipment, P454,000 in extraordinary and miscellaneous expense, P9.150 million in other maintenance and operating expenses.

In contrast, Senator Arroyo spent only P2.264 million for the salaries and benefits of his staff, the lowest compared to the rest of his colleagues (Aquino and Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada) who spent as much as P11 million on this aspect.

Records from the COA revealed that the itemized list of expenses of the 23 senators for 2009 totaled to P433,382,584 or a median of P18,842,719.48 for each senator. The report was signed by COA supervising auditor Emilio Asi Jr. and recently published in The STAR.

The audit report showed that Arroyo spent P14,611,455.95 or P4,231,264.53 below the median.

The highest spender is Senate President Pro-Tempore Jonggoy Estrada, who utilized P21,799,573.90 or P2,956,854.42 above the median.

Estrada spent P7,188,118.95 or about 50 percent more than Arroyo.

Estrada was followed by Senators Gregorio Honasan (P21,649,606.67), President Aquino (P21,552,295.67) and recently released former Magdalo leader, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV (P21,136,792.45), Bong Revilla (P21,046,876.06) and Francis Pangilinan (P20,720,010.09).

“It turns out the showbiz and related people are the biggest spenders. So are rebels. And Presidents,” a senator remarked.

In the so-called P19 million club were Senators Alan Cayetano (P19.337 M), Rodolfo Biazon (P19.407 M); and Pia Cayetano (P19.579 M).

In the “kuripot” category, Arroyo was followed by then Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who spent P15,178,602.28. Pimentel also placed second to Arroyo in the 2008 frugality derby.

In the lower median category of P16 million and P17 million in expenses, the senators from the least spenders to the higher spenders are Edgardo Angara (P16,421,151.05), Loren Legarda (P17,276.427.28), Panfilo Lacson (P17,516,733.88) and Mar Roxas (P 17,673,348,30).

Still in the median list of P18 million are Jamby Madrigal (18,261,678.82), Richard Gordon (P18,322,650.14), Manny Villar (P18,343,298.25), Lito Lapid (P18,395,961), Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (P18,409,189.82), Francis Escudero (P18,705,625), and Miriam Defensor-Santiago (P18,759,403.69).

Trillanes justifies expenses

Some senior senators noted how Trillanes spent his budget when he was detained at Camp Crame until a week ago. He spent P21.136 million, or a whopping P57,909.02 each day for various expenses in his office.

In 2008, he also spent P17.2 million or about P47,000 a day while in detention.

“To Trillanes’ consolation, he is in celebrity company. President P-Noy in 2009 was also among the highest spenders. He spent P21,552,296, a shade higher than Trillanes,” a source said.

But in a separate press statement, Trillanes reported that he ranked fourth in the number of bills he had principally authored in the 14th Congress. He said he had 347 bills and resolutions filed with about 18 bills passed into law.

“Clearly, we had our work cut out for us. In my third year as senator of the Republic, I have continued to raise more of these questions that brought me behind bars, in the hope of addressing them through legislation. Of 347 bills and resolutions filed since my oath of office, 18 were passed into law despite repressive conditions against fully serving my mandate,” Trillanes said in a statement.

“My advocacies on poverty eradication, good governance, equal access to health care, education and employment, peace, agriculture, energy, and environmental sustainability remain in all the bills I have crafted. More so, these resonate with your collective call for change,” said Trillanes, who was released from military custody before Christmas Day last year.

Why Joker is the thriftiest

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 has, up to this day, a skeletal staff of three.

Senator Arroyo had chaired the powerful Blue Ribbon committee, the public services committee and the justice and human rights committee in the 12th and 13th Congress.

Arroyo opted not to chair any committee in the 14th and the present 15th Congress.

Most traveled

Even though he is the thriftiest overall, Arroyo seemed to have spent much on travel expenses, with P544,000 spent under the senators’ budget when almost all senators averaged at P259,776.

The travel expenses of Arroyo’s staff amounted to P832,000, still low compared to that of other senators.

Legarda’s staff incurred P4.5 million in “local travel expenses”, followed by Villar’s staff who incurred P3.3 million, then the staff of Honasan at P3.291 million.

Pangilinan’s staff was next with P2.5 million, Alan Cayetano’s staff with P2.496 million, followed by his sister Pia’s staff with P2.376 million, Santiago’s staff with P2.371 million, and Estrada’s with P2.371 million.

The staff of actor-turned-politician Revilla posted P2.066 million in local travel expenses.

The local travel expenses of the staff members of Angara, Enrile, Escudero, Gordon, Honasan, Lacson, Lapid, Madrigal, Roxas, Trillanes, Zubiri and Aquino ranged from P1.2 million to P1.9 million.

Trillanes reported only P65,894 in travel expenses for himself, a big contrast to his audit report in 2008 that reflected his expenses of P247,404 for local travel while his staff incurred P878,496 and P253,810 in local and foreign travel, respectively (in 2008).

In 2009, Trillanes’ staff incurred P1.896 million under the column, “local travel.” –Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star)