MANILA, Philippines – At least 14 members of the House of Representatives are bound for the United States this weekend and will probably watch the fight between Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao and Mexican Antonio Margarito.
?Some 14 have travel authority to the US at their own expense. They may miss one or two sessions,? Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said in a text message to reporters yesterday. Belmonte himself had planned to go to Dallas, Texas to extend moral support to Pacquiao but cancelled his plan because Congress resumed session last Monday.
The 14 who are US-bound this week are in addition to several House members who traveled to America during the three-week break and who have not yet returned and who might watch the Dallas fight.
Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II earlier said those who would watch the fight would be marked absent from the sessions.
Rep. Florencio Noel of the party-list group An Waray, who chairs the committee on accounts, said those who are flying to the US are not getting any money from the House.
?That was the condition imposed by the Speaker. They would get their TA (travel authority) but not any allowance from the House. I am not signing any disbursement voucher in connection with their travel,? he said.
