Manila: Critics unhappy with the allegedly extravagant dinner organised to celebrate the 41st wedding anniversary of President Gloria Arroyo and husband Jose Miguel in New York in early August should voice their grievances in court, and not through the media, a legal counsel for the president said.
"They should file a case. Take it to a proper forum, not to the media," Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Raul Gonzalez said.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, however, remained defiant. "If the dinner was really ostentatious, then there has to be an apology, but it wasn't ostentatious and I stand by that," he said.
It would have been impolite for the first couple to inquire about the restaurant or the menu, Remonde said. "We will not glamourise this issue any further."
However, leftist congressman Walden Bello of Akbayan, challenged Arroyo to fast. "We challenge the president to fast and experience what real hunger means. This is a president used to the high style class of consumption, and [she is] not in touch with reality," he said.
Congressman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Leyte allegedly paid for the dinner at the Le Cirq, which the New York Post said cost about $20,000 (Dh73,400) because Arroyo had ordered expensive wine.
A staff member of the congressman said a brother, Daniel Romualdez, a successful architect who has been working in New York since 1986, was the one who footed the bill.
Congressman Romualdez, nephew of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, has a net worth of some 447 million pesos (Dh 34.3 million).
