Poe to scrutinize gov’t expenses on Duterte trips

Senator Grace Poe wants to scrutinize the government’s expenses on President Rodrigo Duterte’s trips abroad, as she criticized the huge delegation composed of Cabinet officials and businessmen who joined the chief executive in his recent official visit to Russia.

In a television interview Monday, Poe questioned why some of the high-level officials who were part of the official delegation even brought their relatives with them.

“Gusto nating malaman, dapat hiwalay ang bayad ng mga kasama nila. Naintindihan ko, they want to spend some quality time with their family, even on an official trip. But who paid for them?” Poe said.

“I haven’t seen their expense reports. Perhaps when we have our budget hearing, I can look into that, we will look into that. Now, they can always say that ‘we paid for it ourselves,’ that’s fine. But I think that also the message that comes out, that government has to be very conservative when it comes to expenses,” the senator said.

Poe noted that only Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno was left as the Palace caretaker.

“Another thing, I don’t think it’s a good signal also to our countrymen that they’re all there. When this thing happened, I think Sec. Diokno was left here,” Poe said, referring to the attacks in Marawi City.

“I respect Sec. Diokno, and he’s highly capable but his expertise is different. All of them were there, the chief of police was there,” Poe added.

The list of Duterte’s official delegation sent to the media had 19 names, including Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial.

Also included in the list are Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Science and Technology Secretary Fortunano dela Peña, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.

Some government officials who joined the trip but were not in the list are PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, AFP chief of staff Eduardo Año, and Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, among others.

Duterte’s partner, Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña and their daughter, Kitty, also joined the trip, along with the President’s youngest son, Baste. Baste is Duterte’s son with his first wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Poe said government officials should be “careful,” noting that some of dela Rosa’s photos show him traveling during the official visit.

“The chief of police had photos being shown, when he was traveling at that time. But I think that it doesn’t give a good signal to our countrymen, when now, change is supposed to have come,” Poe said.

Former President Fidel Ramos also earlier criticized the delegation to Russia, calling it a “junket.”

“In the first place, some people should have stayed behind to take care of the situation with the President,” Ramos said.

“[But] the Executive Secretary and so many secretaries and so many generals [joined] the junket,” Ramos said. “Pardon me for calling it a junket because it now turns out that it was a junket.”

The said Russia trip was cut short after Duterte decided to go home following his declaration of martial law in Mindanao. —ALG, GMA News