Arroyo Draws Flak for $20,000 Dinner on Eve of Cory’s Burial

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo drew withering fire on Saturday after an American newspaper revealed that she spent $20,000, or almost a million pesos, in just a single dinner with her entourage in an upscale restaurant in New York City at a time when the entire Philippines was mourning the death of former president Corazon “Cory” Aquino.

An Aug. 7 news article posted on the New York Post online’s “Page Six” reported that Arroyo wined and dined her big entourage at the famous French restaurant, Le Cirque, in Manhattan.

The New York Post article said: “Philippines President Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was at Le Cirque the other night with a large entourage enjoying the good life… Macapagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000.” That amount is equivalent to 955,400 pesos.

United Opposition (UNO) president and Makati Mayor Jejomar C. Binay immediately pounced on Arroyo’s “extravagance, insensitivity and hypocrisy.”

“The Arroyo administration talks about giving honor and respect to the memory of the former president. It seems that spending an astonishing amount of money – enough to provide almost 3,000 hungry families with three square meals – appears to be their idea of honoring and respecting Cory, ” Binay said.

Binay said instead of joining the rest of her countrymen in mourning the death of Mrs. Aquino, Arroyo and her party appeared to be in a festive mood, with Arroyo herself reportedly ordering expensive wine, during a dinner held a few hours before they left for Manila to “pay their respects” to the late former president at the Manila Cathedral.

As posted in several blogs, Arroyo’s tab showed her ordering 11 bottles of Krug champagne priced at $510 per bottle. Her party also feasted on Osetra caviar ($1,400 for five ounces), a “Chef’s Tasting Menu” or wine paired with a dish ($4,500 for 25 orders) and a “three-course Chef’s Seasonal Menu” ($1,450 for 25 orders).

Binay said the amount Arroyo spent is enough to provide three meals to 2,956 poor families. “If you consider that an average family has six members, the 960,000 pesos would have fed 18,000 Filipinos for one day,” he said.

“What they did was deplorable especially if taxpayers’ money was spent. If they spent private money, what they did was in bad taste and again showed insensitivity to the millions of Filipinos who face hunger daily,” he said.

Renato Reyes, secretary general of the militant group Bayan, also blasted Arroyo for her extravagance.

“Malacañang has a lot of explaining to do about this latest allegation which came out in an American paper. Who spent for the lavish dinner? Is it appropriate for a head of state of a Third World country like Mrs. Arroyo to wine and dine in such a manner, given that we’re in the midst of a crisis?” Reyes said in a statement.

Malacanang, meanwhile, dismissed as “absurd” calls for President Arroyo to resign her office to honor the memory of Mrs. Aquino.

Binay earlier urged Arroyo to step down and follow Mrs. Aquino’s four-year-old call to resign from the presidency.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said that while Arroyo is open to suggestions to honor Mrs. Aquino’s memory, Binay’s proposal is “too absurd.”