Austere Dinner for Vice President Binay & Party |
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Communities - RP Government Updates | |||
Monday, 07 February 2011 11:15 | |||
By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA (© Journal Group Link International) Vice President Binay & Party Make Waves at the World Bank P hilippine Vice President Jejomar C. Binay had a full-plate itinerary of his five-day visit in When this reporter asked the former Makati City mayor over the phone last Friday (Feb. 4) to sum up the accomplishments of his visit in the nation’s capital, he only mentioned two – his attendance at the National Prayer Breakfast and the World Bank – before he would politely cut short our phone conversation to meet some dignitaries waiting for him in the hotel lobby. But from his voice, this reporter noticed that the Vice President appeared to be very tired and possibly still struggling with the jetlag.
The Philippine Vice President must have been pleased with his attendance at the National Prayer Breakfast on the second day of his visit since it was also an opportunity for him to meet his Unfortunately, Consul Emil Fernandez, the information officer of the Philippine Embassy in When pressed if there was an effort for the Philippine Vice President to meet with Mr. Obama, Mr. Fernandez said, “there was no effort to have VP Binay meet President Obama because the main purpose of VP Binay’s trip was to serve as the keynote speaker during the World Bank Sustainable Development Network annual meeting.” Mr. Binay must have also enjoyed his visit in the Beltway as “nice and sunny” weather had cooperated during most of the days of his visit that started on Feb. 1 and lasted up to Feb. 5. “Very little snow” was still visible on the roadsides. But the Vice President was “appropriately dressed for the cold” weather, Fernandez quipped. Had Mr. Binay made a beeline to the hometown of President Barack Obama in Chicago as did former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Mr. Binay would be hating the biting cold weather and the nasty mountains of snow on the road in the wake of the two-day Blizzard of 2011 that hit the Midwest on the first two days of his arrival in D.C.
As Chairman of HUDCC (Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council), he met with
HONORS LATE A Pulong Bayan (town hall meeting) was held with members of the Filipino community on Feb. 2, where he enumerated his programs for Overseas-Filipino Workers. During this activity, he presented Mrs. Nina Solarz with the Philippine House resolution, honoring the late Cong. Stephen Solarz. Mr. Binay also met Sen. Daniel Inouye, a longtime friend of the Mr. Binay also met with a number of think tanks, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Center for New American Security, The Vice President also brought a business delegation that had fruitful dialogue with members of the US Chamber of Commerce and US ASEAN Business Council.
A more-wasteful event still was the luncheon in a five-star hotel in Chicago, Illinois, paid in advance in the estimated amount of $10,000 (half-a-million pesos) by the Philippine Consulate of the Midwest that was never served to the Filipino community members when Mrs. Arroyo cut short her U.S. trip also in 2009 following the death of former President Cory Aquino. When President Aquino ate out by a hotdog stand during his visit to the United Nations in At the Café at the Union Train Station, serving a “fusion of Asian food” with a number of Filipino dishes, the pancit lomi cost $9 each. The Café has a Filipino cook. The Vice President was joined at the dinner by his 18-member official party and some Philippine Embassy personnel rounding out to 30. Because of the ridiculously small amount of the check, whoever paid the estimated $270 or 12,000 pesos for pancit lomi must just have wanted to remain anonymous. # # # Editor’s Note: To contact the author, please e-mail him at: (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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Last Updated on Monday, 07 February 2011 11:21 |
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