PNoy's $250 handshake raises eyebrows in DC
by Rodney Jaleco, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
06/02/2012 9:32 AM
WASHINGTON D.C. - How much will it cost for the chance to shake President Aquino’s hand? If you’re a Filipino in the American capital, that would be $250.
That is the cost of admission at the launching of the US-Philippine Society on the eve of President Aquino’s scheduled meeting with President Obama at the White House on June 8.
The event will be held at the plush Mandarin Oriental that overlooks the 14th Street Bridge and the glistening waters of the Tidal Basin. An estimated 400 people are expected to attend the launching that has raised not a few eyebrows in the Fil-Am community.
That is apparently the only opportunity for Fil-Ams to sit down with the President in Washington DC. His only other scheduled get-together with Filipinos will be in Los Angeles, California on the homeward leg of his journey.
ABS-CBN News sources said most of the tables have already been purchased by “rich and famous†behind the formation of the society, including communications magnate Manny Pangilinan, banker Washington SyCip and other Filipino business titans. Large American multinationals operating in the Philippines gobbled up the rest of the tables.
But some officials reportedly fretted there might not be enough “Filipino faces†in the crowd so they’ve been calling on Fil-Am community leaders to cough up the $250 and beef up the Filipino presence in the crowd.
Unlike his predecessor, there will apparently be no free dinners from President Aquino.
Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s visit to the US was often accompanied by controversy. While in New York, she reportedly splurged on a $20,000 dinner in Manhattan’s Le Cirque; then plunked another $15,000 at the Bobby Vans steakhouse here.
She also appeared overzealous in her desire to personally meet President Obama. And while President Aquino had also sought a White House meeting, officials point out that he was coming here on an invitation of President Obama delivered by State Secretary Hillary Clinton during a visit to Manila.
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