Frugal

A LITTLE scrimping and saving could go a long way.
Barely three months in office and already, P-Noy is feeling the money crunch. He has resorted to austerity measures — first, by promising to bring a very lean delegation with him in his foreign travels and recently, by cancelling his scheduled October trip to the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Brussels, Belgium.
ASEM is an inter-regional forum, which consists of the European Commission, the 27 members of the European Union, and 13 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan, according to a report from Philstar.com.
“A lot of the principal heads of state that we hoped to be able to meet have not confirmed their attendance. Then it’s not worth the expense at all,” P-Noy said.
For his upcoming visit to the United States, only one senator, one member of the house of representatives, four Cabinet secretaries and 25-30 businessmen (who will be shouldering their own expenses) will be joining P-Noy. The president and his delegation will also be flying to the US in a commercial flight via Philippine Airlines.
DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo and DOE Secretary Rene Almendras are the four department secretaries who will accompany P-Noy on his US trip. There will be no provisions from the government for the media in this “junket-free” trip.
For his US trip, P-Noy’s objective is simple and crystal-clear: “I am more focused on bringing in more jobs. I am working on the companies that have pledged to invest in the country.”
According to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, “the Palace has not invited legislators from the House, maybe they want to drive home a point and I respect them for that. I have decided not to send any separate delegation. What we can achieve there, he can achieve there.”
“I have my own way of looking at this and this (limiting travel) has nothing to do with any person. It was surprising that not too many congressmen have evinced a desire to join the (US) trip. The message really of this administration is the exact opposite of what many expect, where everybody is trying to hitch and be part of it (trip),” Belmonte added.
It is a given that a president has traveling obligations in order to foster camaraderie with other world leaders and invite possible investments along with it.  But the results should outweigh the expenses incurred. Practicality is the operative word for P-Noy at this juncture in his presidency.
As former US President Abraham Lincoln once said, “You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.  You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.”