ANNIE RUTH C. SABANGAN, GMANews.TV
09/10/2009 | 08:57 PM
If foreign travel is a measure of success, the 14th president of the Philippines can be considered a very accomplished leader, Globetrotting Gloria Macapagal Arroyo spent almost a year of her almost nine-year presidency out of the country.
President Arroyo’s trips were even more frequent than that of several former presidents of the United States , according to a study.
Government data culled by GMA News Research showed that from August 2001 to September 2009, Mrs. Arroyo was abroad for 312 days, or about 35 days per year.
Since she assumed the presidency, Mrs. Arroyo embarked on 81 foreign trips, which included 111 visits and meetings in 40 countries, cities, and territories, the latest of which was her August 31 travel to Libya this year. This means that on the average, Mrs. Arroyo visited about four countries and made nine trips annually since she became president.
Mrs. Arroyo’s foreign travels were more frequent than that of former US presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Dwight Eisenhower.
A study by the US National Taxpayers Union (NTU) on US presidential travels from 1953 to 2001 showed that Carter and Ford went abroad almost eight times a year during their terms as president; Nixon, 7.6 times; Reagan, six times; Kennedy, 5.6; Johnson, 5.2; and Eisenhower, 4.6.
William Jefferson “Bill" Clinton, who traveled almost 17 times annually, was the most traveled US president during the period, followed by George H.W. Bush who went abroad 15 times a year, according to NTU.
Favorite destinations: US, China , Japan
The US is the country most frequented by the President, which she visited 15 times.
The visits included her meeting with President Barack Obama wherein Mrs. Arroyo and her entourage that included 23 lawmakers were criticized for their expensive meals in at least four restaurants in New York and Washington D.C.
Based on a report from Malacañang, the presidential party gave away P6 million in tips for the six-day US trip from July 5 to August 5, 2009. (See: Arroyo party gave away P6M in tips during six-day US stay)
China comes second with nine visits, including Mrs. Arroyo’s Sept. 2 to 4, 2004 state visit, which was her first overseas travel after she won a fresh term as president. The President came under fire during the said travel for bringing along her family, grandchildren, and their nannies to China .
On Aug. 31, 2004, President Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 103, which imposed government austerity programs that included a cutback in the travels of public officials.
Another controversial trip she made in China was on April 21 2007 when she witnessed the signing of the scandal-ridden $329-million National Broadband Network deal with China ’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Corp. in Bo’ao, Hainan .
The President suspended the deal on Sept. 22, 2007 “in response to political criticisms." (See: Looking Back: The NBN-ZTE controversy)
Next to China is Japan, visited by Mrs. Arroyo for seven times; Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand for five times each, and United Arab Emirates and Italy for four times.
The countries she visited three times are Brunei , South Korea , Mexico , Singapore , Switzerland , United Kingdom , and Vietnam .
She went twice to Australia , Bahrain , Saudi Arabia , Kuwait , Libya , Spain , and Egypt .
The places she visited only once are: Belgium , Brazil , Cambodia , Canada , Chile , Cuba , Equatorial Guinea , Finland , France , India , Lao , New Zealand , Peru , Portugal , Qatar , Russia , and Syria .
Trips cost taxpayers P600,000 per day
Her most frequent travels were in 2007, when she spent 59 days visiting Switzerland, UAE, China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Portugal, Singapore, Equatorial Guinea, US, India, Kuwait, Spain and the UK.
Next was in 2008 when she was out of the country for 46 days, and this year when spent 45 days abroad. She traveled least in 2004 and 2005, for 15 and 16 days, respectively.
Latest data from the Commission on Audit showed that the Office of the President incurred P1.45 billion in foreign travel expenses from 2002 to 2007. This means President Arroyo’s office spent P241 million yearly for overseas trips - P 20 million monthly or P666,000 daily.
The figure does not yet include the P95-million expenditure incurred by the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) in relation to the 2008 foreign travels of Mrs. Arroyo that was charged to the Palace’s contingent funds, based on the COA’s preliminary report on OPS expenses last year. - GMANews.TV, with reports from GMA News Research
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