The insensitive junketeers

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

In last week's failed coup attempt by the bungling Senator Antonio Trillanes and his motley crew, one of the major issues they raised were the allegations of unabated corruption in government, with the cash handouts to congressmen and governors right inside Malacañang being singled out as among the group's reasons for demanding that the President be ousted.

Barely a week has passed since that laughable attempt at overthrowing a government, and yet another potential scandal involving the President's trip to Europe and her unusually large entourage of 30 plus congressmen is already brewing. Opposition lawmakers and even Senators have raised several questions on the propriety and cost of such a huge and seemingly unnecessary delegation. Who is footing the bill? Why does the president need so many congressmen around? Was this trip a reward for blind loyalty to the President at the expense of the Filipino taxpayer?

If the lawmakers who traipsed off to Europe have assumed that the public's tepid response to the rebellious Senator's call to action meant that the Filipino people have finally become immune to all the reports of corruption, wrongdoing, and shameless politicking that has characterized this administration and its cohorts, they have made a serious miscalculation.

The people of this country may not agree with the preferred methods of Senator Trillanes, but that does not mean that they have decided to simply lie back and watch, as the country they love is being raped and pillaged by the same people who profess to be its guardians and caretakers.

Unless each of the congressmen who went to Europe with GMA has something to show for all the expenses incurred by this junket to prove that they were not merely groupies and hangers-on, but were actually working to advance the interests of their constituents and the country, or come up with incontrovertible proof that the nation's treasury did not fund another frivolous trip, this European Junket will certainly be added to the litany of legitimate and unresolved grievances of the Filipino people, that could one day overflow and finally lead to the start of the revolution that Antonio Trillanes' latest lackluster attempt failed to spark.*