MALACAÑANG on Wednesday welcomed the plan of Senator Grace Poe to scrutinize the government expenses on foreign trips, following reports that some government officials who had no role in President Rodrigo Duterte's recent trip to Russia joined the presidential delegation.
Speaking to reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Poe has the right to review the expenses of official delegation for foreign trips.
Abella said that all government officials who participated in Duterte's Moscow trip were all "necessary" in dealing with the Russian government.
“Well, it’s her prerogative to ask but basically, we need to understand that the President is really a leader right now. [He] is really leading in restructuring relationships, international relationships,” the presidential spokesperson said.
"We should recognize how deeply he has become. He’s emerging as a leader regionally and internationally. And I think that needs to be understood as within his scope. Everybody who went to Russia was necessary,” he added.
Poe, in a television interview Monday, expressed interest to look into the expense record of the government in Duterte’s foreign visits, following the questionable participation of top Philippine officials who went to Russia.
The senator said having huge delegation abroad does not “send a good signal” to the country.
“I haven’t seen their expense reports. Perhaps, when we have our budget hearing, I can look into that. We will look into that,” Poe said. “The government has to be very conservative when it comes to expenses.”
Duterte was in Russia to hold a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev for sealing bilateral deals when skirmishes between government troops and Maute terrorist group erupted in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, on May 23.
The President, who declared 60-day martial rule in Mindanao the same day the clashes erupted in Marawi City, had to cut the trip short and returned to the Philippines to address the situation.
Former President Fidel Ramos last week slammed the participation of government officials who had no role in the trip and should just have stayed behind to man their posts.
Ramos had said the official delegation to Russia, which was composed of high-level officials, turned out to be a “junket” because of their minimal role on the week-long visit to Moscow.
The Philippine official delegation to Russia is composed of 19 government officials, including Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Abella had said the participation of “key members” of Duterte’s administration in Russia was merely “misconstrued by managerial types like Ramos.” (VoxPop Philippines)
