Is this amount acceptable to you guys? (Because it seems like a lot for two days!)
“According to the Palace, U.S. President Barack Obama’s two-day state visit to the Philippines cost Filipino taxpayers some PHP9.8 million,” reports ABS-CBN News correspondent RG Cruz on ABS-CBNnews.com.
The report said the information came from “a note to media fromPresidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Sonny Coloma.”
The hefty price tag “covers the cost for the state visit ceremonies, transportation, hotel accommodations, and other various expenses.”
The report noted: “In a state visit, the expenses are charged to the host, in this case, the Philippine government.”
Citing international standards, Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda had explained that the government only paid for the expenses of Obama plus 10 of the people in his entourage. We didn’t pay for the Secret Service personnel.
For the record, Obama was billeted at the Presidential Suite of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza.
Screengrab from the Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy in Manila
