Press Release
August 10, 2009

Transcript of interview with Senator Miriam Santiago

On the million-peso New York dinner involving the Arroyos and some members of Congress

The explanation appears to be that it was Cong. Martin Romualdez who gave a dinner party in honor of the First Couple because of their wedding anniversary. And maybe he was too embarrassed to leave out his colleagues in the House, since that would eventually be leaked and that he will be accosted with the charge of bad manners for not inviting the others.

I think that, in the first place, the choice of venue was ill considered; it was not well thought out. It would have been proper for a smaller party, maybe just the First Couple themselves. We will not begrudge them that--it is the wedding anniversary of the couple after all. But if it is the entire Philippine delegation, then it should be a middle-priced restaurant, not one of the most expensive. This is a French restaurant; it is frequented by celebrities, by the rich and famous. It would really call attention to the Philippine presence there if there were as many as two tables because it would hold about twelve people.

If there were some mistake, I think it would be better to just admit it and to say that it was not done in bad faith. No person is perfect. It was a judgment call, and that is how it turned out. It does not sit well with the Filipino masses and then promise that it will never happen again. Every person around the president will always be walking on eggshells when she is involved.

I would never go out. A long time ago I requested Pres. Aquino to be exempted from evening socials because for me it is a horrible situation to fix my own hair, apply my own make-up, look for jewelry and usually I'll be in terminal panic by that time. Also, I am suffering from chronic fatigue, and I am not exactly the most inviting personality after dinnertime.

I don't think that we should make a big fuss out of it. It was a mistake in good faith; nobody walks deliberately into a trap. It was a trap borne by circumstances. It could have been avoided but it wasn't, so we should just accept our mistakes. It is true that $20,000 in New York is not very much with the standards of the rich and famous there, but in a developing country like the Philippines, that is a whole big political universe by itself: one million pesos. So that should have been taken into account when they are figuring how to honor the president. It also shows how difficult it is to be president.

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