MANILA – Maverick administration Senator Joker Arroyo continues to live up to his reputation as the “Mr. Scrooge” of the Philippine Congress because of his penny-pinching ways as a public official.
In the latest report on official expenditures of Senate members, the Commission on Audit (COA)disclosed that Arroyo again incurred the least expenses, totalling only the equivalent of about $240,000 for the whole of 2007.
Government auditors said they would not be surprised if Arroyo (no relation to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), would again come out on top if they are through with scrutinizing the expenses of Senate members for 2008.
Arroyo first earned the reputation as Mr. Scrooge when he was first elected as congressman of the House of Representatives from suburban Makati City, Metro Manila 17 years ago.
Mr. Scrooge is in reference to the legendary accountant, known for his tightwad and penny-pinching ways and one of the principal characters in the story, “The Christmas Carol,” authored by British novelist Charles Dickens.
Before he entered politics, Arroyo gained a name as a human rights lawyer who was in the forefront of protest actions against the Marcos martial law dictatorship. He was later appointed as executive secretary when president Corazon Aquino took over Malacanang following the ouster of Marcos in 1986.
As congressman and senator, Arroyo also gained renown as a “political maverick” for his independent and outspoken stance even on issues that have been supported by the administration.
When contacted, the senator said he wants to encourage his colleagues to be frugal in spending the people’s money as he pointed out:
“I sacrificed for this. I deprived myself a few million pesos. I want to impress on my colleagues that we should try to be thrifty.”
But his message appears to have fallen on deaf ears, especially on the three actors-turned-politician, headed by Senator Ramon Revilla, who emerged as the biggest spenders in the chamber.
Revilla, who is harboring ambitions to run for vice president in the May 2010 elections, as well as fellow actors Jinggoy Estrada and Lito Lapid all spent an average of about $300,000 for 1987, based on the same COA report.
Another big spender is Senator Francis Pangilinan, who although he is non-show biz, is married to actress-singer Sharon Cuneta.
Aside from being Mr. Scrooge, Arroyo is also proud of his record of perfect attendance in his stint as congressman and later as senator.
It’s like not being absent from class even once from Grade 1 in the primary school until you graduate from college, he proudly said.
And from the looks of it, Arroyo is not about to give up his penny-pinching ways. He was reelected as senator as among the candidates handpicked by President Arroyo to run under the administration banner in the May 2007 mid-term elections.
Arroyo was among the three administration candidates, along with Senator Edgardo Angara and freshman Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who survived the opposition onslaught in the 2007 polls.
Based on his record as congressman, Arroyo saved a lot of the people’s money because he had no staff, except for a driver and a utility man.
As such, he performed his role as congressman all by himself, including making his own phone calls. He carried this work ethic to the Senate when he was elected in 2001 by maintaining a skeletal staff of three.
Unlike his colleagues in the Senate, who hired their own media relations officers, Arroyo doesn’t have one, preferring to write his own press statements but only on what he considers as vital issues.
As one veteran journalist covering the Senate observed, that is so unlike many of Arroyo’s colleagues whom he described as “publicity hounds,” who love to see their names in print even if their names are misspelled.
Loading ...
Reader’s Views