President Arroyo?s husband hit out at the country?s political opposition Tuesday for hinting that he had rented a luxury suite in Las Vegas to watch a boxing match.
Mike Arroyo?s spokesman, Jesus Santos, said the President?s husband couldn?t be the individual described in a newspaper article who spent $20,000 a night for a suite at the MGM Grand Hotel for the Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales match two weeks ago.
Santos confirmed that Mr. Arroyo stayed in the hotel but he wasn?t billed for the room as an accommodation for being the husband of the President of the Philippines.
Santos said they have been receiving reports that Mr. Arroyo was the person being alluded to as the man who stayed in the 12,000-square-feet suite that has a swimming pool, a front garden and other amenities.
?This, we say, is hallucination and falsehood of the highest order, the height of irresponsibility to have given these rumors any sort of credence at a time when our country must be united,? Santos said in a statement.
He also challenged the accusers of Mr. Arroyo to call the MGM Grand Hotel and verify what he called as ?despicably ridiculous product of their rumor mill.?
An opposition lawmaker, who asked not to be named, conceded that Mr. Arroyo stayed at the hotel for free but insisted that he was accommodated at the luxury suite dubbed ?The Mansion.?
The lawmaker said the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. arranged for Mr. Arroyo?s stay in the suite, which is for exclusive use of the rich and famous like basketball player Charles Barkley and pop singer Janet Jackson as well as high rollers or big-time gamblers.
The House minority leader, Francis Escudero, on Monday called for a probe into the allegations floated in the press by the political opposition that a public figure had rented the hotel room for the Pacquiao-Morales bout.
The public figure who allegedly rented the room was not named, but the opposition made broad hints that it was the President?s husband.
Escudero conceded that it was not illegal to rent an expensive room, but stressed that it was ?immoral? to show extreme extravagance when the Philippines is in the throes of a financial crisis.
The President?s allies in the House of Representatives rallied behind Mr. Arroyo, confirming that he stayed in a standard hotel room.
Rep. Monico Puentevella of Bacolod City, who also watched the fight, said Mr. Arroyo did not spend a centavo on accommodation and had stayed in an ?ordinary hotel room.?
Another source told The Manila Times that it was another congressman, a known high roller, who stayed at ?The Mansion.?
The source did not identify the lawmaker, but the majority floor leader, Rep. Prospero Nograles of Davao, said a probe is welcome to determine the identity of the high-living guest. –With Ma. Theresa Torres, AFP
