It was President Arroyo?s husband, controversial First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, who stayed in an expensive hotel suite in Las Vegas, Nevada more than a week ago to watch the Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales fight, a congressman revealed yesterday.
But Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentebella told dzMM?s Anthony Taberna in an interview that he did not think the First Gentleman?s room cost $20,000 (more than P1 million) per night as reported in Manila?s newspapers. He did not say, though, how much Arroyo?s room did cost.
He said Arroyo spent three nights at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, where the Pacquiao-Morales boxing bout was held and where many congressmen who had also watched the match were billeted.
Many Filipino journalists who covered the event stayed in the same hotel, including Taberna.
“No, the First Gentleman did not pay for the room. It was courtesy of the hotel management, which gives complimentary accommodations to popular movie stars and known personalities, and to wealthy gamblers,” said Puentebella.
When Taberna asked him if Arroyo?s quarters had a swimming pool and a garden as reported in Manila, Puentebella, who said he was still in the United States, claimed he did not see the First Gentleman?s suite.
Taberna told The STAR that every Filipino in the huge group that stayed at the MGM Grand Hotel knew that Arroyo was housed in a “two-story penthouse suite.”
“Judging by the rates the hotel charged their Filipino guests during that right, I can believe that a large penthouse unit can cost as much as $20,000 a night,” he said.
He said the spacious suite in which Pacquiao stayed for several days had its own receiving room and rented for as much as $5,000.
“Ours, which was just an ordinary room, was the cheapest, but it made us poorer by $600 a night,” he said.
The First Gentleman ? referred to as “FG” by his close circle ? was accompanied to Las Vegas by his brother, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, and Ephraim Genuino, chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., a long-time friend of the President?s husband.
Rep. Arroyo confirmed that his brother stayed at the MGM Grand Hotel. In fact, he said he joined him in his room.
Through Edgar Ruado, his chief of staff, Iggy Arroyo sent the following text message to inquisitive reporters yesterday: “It (the report about the $20,000-room) is not true. In fact, FG?s room was an ordinary room and I even stayed with him in the room. The room was paid by friends and relatives here in Las Vegas. The tickets to the fight were compliments of Manny Pacquaio. They can ask Manny, he gave us four tickets.”
However, Rep. Arroyo?s statement conflicted with Puentebella?s, insofar as who paid for the room was concerned.
Lawyer Jesus Santos, counsel of Mr. Arroyo, told reporters yesterday the report about an influential personality who spent thousands of dollars a night to watch a boxing match in Las Vegas was “a very obvious part of the organized move to destroy the reputation of the First Gentleman.”
Santos likened the character assassination campaign against Mr. Arroyo to a “factory of falsehoods.”
The lawyer claimed that it was impossible for the First Gentleman to have spent such an enormous amount of money, be it personal or otherwise, during his stay in Las Vegas because he got complimentary accommodation from the event?s organizers.
“Mr. Arroyo did not spend a single centavo in his stay at the hotel. He was given complimentary accommodation as part of their promotion and they can even check it with MGM,” stressed Santos.
He said it is normal for Mr. Arroyo, being the spouse of a head of state, to receive special treatment and privileges during such events.
A close confidante of the First Gentleman, who requested anonymity, likewise expressed doubt that Mr. Arroyo could have spent such lavish amounts in Las Vegas. “It?s not true. Napakakuripot ni FG,” he said, noting the President?s husband was naturally stingy.
As for Genuino, Pagcor spokesman Dodie King told two other dzMM broadcasters, Ted Failon and Korina Sanchez, that his boss did not join the Arroyos at MGM but instead stayed at the Bellagio Hotel.
Asked if Pagcor had a reciprocal complimentary room arrangement with MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, King said there was no such arrangement.
Failon later told The STAR that he tried calling Genuino directly “but as usual, we got no response.”
For several days now, there have been speculations as to which wealthy official or influential personality spent $20,000 a night in Las Vegas to watch the Pacquiao-Morales fight.
The reports even prompted House Minority Leader Francis Escudero to ask the chamber to investigate and unmask the unnamed person and recommend him for prosecution for violating the Civil Code or the Code of Conduct for Public Officials and Employees.
Escudero noted both laws prohibit the “ostentatious display of wealth at a time of acute and widespread public want.”
“It is certainly wrong for any person, more so if he is a public official or his close relative, to flaunt his or her wealth during these difficult times,” he said.
Asked yesterday whether acceptance on the part of the President?s husband of a “gift” from MGM Grand Hotel in the form of a free room constituted an illegality, Escudero said he was not sure if it was illegal but it was immoral.
He said the President?s husband should be more circumspect in accepting gifts since he can certainly influence his wife in making decisions that may benefit gift givers or donors.
He also said if it is the First Gentleman who was referred to in media reports on the expensive Las Vegas hotel suite, all the more reason a congressional investigation should be held to clarify the coverage of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees on relatives of public officers. ? With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Edu Punay
