Thursday, November 08, 2007 Seares: Cuenco’s no-junkets By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
FIRST, let's set this straight.
The article "The Perks of Being Congressman," run on PCIJ website, lists House members who were top spenders on foreign travel in 2005. And Cebu City's Rep. Antonio Cuenco leads the roster.
The story wasn't whipped out of thin air or sewn from "tsismis" bits. It was based on a 2006 Commission on Audit (COA) report after a review of reported House expenses.
Web-posted last July 30, it was relayed over the weekend to Sun.Star. Bzzzzz reported the item as trivia last Nov. 5.
It became full-blown news only when Tony opted for his right to reply. Tony said the trips were not junkets but part of his job. He was sent on international conferences, reports of which, he said, he dutifully submitted to the House. (Sun.Star, Nov. 6).
PCIJ didn't call them junkets. Neither did Bzzzzz, which made no comment. PCIJ used "jetsetter" which means frequent traveler for business or pleasure.
Experts say junket is "a pleasure trip or excursion, especially one paid for out of public funds." In that sense, Tony's trips were no junket.
Jessica
But there's a kink. A public official can't separate pleasure from all those official all-expense-paid trips. One doesn't repeatedly make love to Jessica Biel while repeatedly saying, "This is a job. I'm not enjoying this."
Another wrinkle: It involved public money and Cebuano Tony spent the most (total---P1,294,058.05), making himself unavoidably conspicuous. Other House members from Cebu probably also traveled but spent less and thus weren't noticed.
In his inimitable way, Tony often manages to get public attention.
