Ang Ating Mahal na Pangulo

Ducky Pare­des wrote this arti­cle in Malaya. This is some­thing that we prob­a­bly sus­pect already. Now here are the numbers…

Ang Ating “Mahal” na Pan­gulo
Ducky Pare­des

I mean that lit­er­ally. Glo­ria Arroyo has been our most expen­sive pres­i­dent — ever!

In 2007, the Office of the Pres­i­dent spent a total of P249.5 mil­lion to pay the salaries and wages of its reg­u­lar employ­ees; and P10.7 mil­lion to pay casual and con­trac­tual employees.

That’s P260.2 mil­lion to pay the rank and file of the Office of the Pres­i­dent, and 58 other exec­u­tive offices, agen­cies, com­mis­sions, and com­mit­tees that report to the Office of the President.

But that’s not all. Glo­ria Arroyo spent more than dou­ble that amount for her for­eign (P585.5 mil­lion) and domes­tic (P34.1 mil­lion) trav­els, accord­ing to the Com­mis­sion on Audit (COA)‘s report on the 2007 finan­cial trans­ac­tions of Mala­cañang. This means an aver­age of P49.04 mil­lion per month on for­eign travel and P2.84 mil­lion on local travel!

She spent much more — P618.6 mil­lion — on “dona­tions” to yet unknown ben­e­fi­cia­ries, the COA report revealed. Mala­cañang, the COA report showed, spent sim­i­larly big amounts for broad, dis­cre­tionary, and seem­ingly iden­ti­cal accounts, includ­ing: Con­fi­den­tial expenses P149 mil­lion; Con­sul­tancy ser­vices P59.6 mil­lion, Rep­re­sen­ta­tion expenses P56.8 mil­lion, Rep­re­sen­ta­tion allowance P14.5 mil­lion, Other bonuses and allowance P28.8 mil­lion, Trans­porta­tion allowance P10.3 mil­lion, Adver­tis­ing expenses P6.9 mil­lion, Addi­tional com­pen­sa­tion P24.8 mil­lion, Extra­or­di­nary expenses P6.64 mil­lion, Mis­cel­la­neous expenses P5.4 mil­lion, Other per­son­nel ben­e­fits P119.8 mil­lion and Sub­sidy to Regional Offices/Staff Bureaus/Branch Offices P46.6 million

The COA report shows that apart from these amounts, the Office of the Pres­i­dent also paid P21 mil­lion in “yearend bonus,” P7.1 mil­lion in “cash gift,” and P651,000 in “honoraria.”

Gloria’s house­hold is also quite expen­sive. Look at these items: Food sup­plies expenses P55.7 mil­lion or P4.6 mil­lion a month; Elec­tric­ity P54.5 mil­lion or an aver­age of P4.5 mil­lion a month; Gaso­line, oil and lubri­cants P27.9 mil­lion or P2.3 mil­lion a month; Water P25.4 mil­lion or P2.1 mil­lion a month; Secu­rity ser­vices P13 mil­lion or P1.08 mil­lion a month; Jan­i­to­r­ial ser­vices P4.8 mil­lion or P400,000 a month; Tele­phone, land­line P13.5 mil­lion or P1.1 mil­lion a month; Tele­phone, mobile P9.07 mil­lion or P755,000 a month; Office sup­plies P13.5 mil­lion or P1.1 mil­lion a month; “Other sup­plies” P19.4 mil­lion or P1.6 mil­lion a month; Sub­scrip­tion expenses P1.04 mil­lion or P86,000 a month; Cook­ing gas P892,000 or P74,000 a month; Inter­net P332,597 or P27,716 a month and Cable, satel­lite, tele­graph and radio P300,955 or P25,079 a month.

When we call her our “mahal na Pan­gulo,” that must be what we mean. Napakama­hal talaga, di ba?.