How MPs spend your money?

The above is a burning question which I always want to ask the lawmakers of Bangladesh. But probably I will never know because they will never disclose it.

But we can provide an example for them. Raymond (Mong) Palatino is my colleague at Global Voices and the President of the Kabataan (Youth) Party and a new member of the House of Representatives in the Philippines. He is younger than me (only 29 years) and father of two kids. And he is the first blogging politician in Phillipines.

So how is a blogging politician different from his fellow lawmakers? Mong describes how he spent public money in the first week of his tenure:

Monday: After my oath taking at the Supreme Court in the morning, I attended a press conference at the Minority Office in the House of Representatives. I was given a chance to deliver a short message. I thanked the members and supporters of our party. I also criticized the “Gang of Four” in Congress (Arroyos). I asked the president to convince her sister-in-law to step down and allow other nominees to represent the balut vendors. [..]

Wednesday: My first time to attend the plenary session as a House member. My temporary seat and desk are located at the right side of the plenary. Next week I might join the rest of the minority in the middle-front of the session hall.

I saw these documents on my desk: Two committee reports, Order of Business, Session Journal and two opinion columns (Fr. Joaquin Bernas – PDI April 27; and Malaya editorial – April 23) recognizing the legality of the Nograles proposal to amend the Constitution. [..]

And it goes on to show how he is performing. John Liebhardt took an interview of him for Global Voices where you can learn more about him.

When we will see an MP in Bangladesh blogging?