MANILA - The legal counsels of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and First Gentleman Mike Arroyo on Monday said there were no irregularities in the president's Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Networth (SALN) following the release of a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report that Arroyo had become much richer since she became president in 2001.

In a press conference in Malacañang, Romulo Macalintal and Ruy Rondain, private counsels of Mrs. and Mr. Arroyo, respectively, challenged anyone to prove there were anomalies in the president's SALN declarations.

"She has nothing to hide," said Macalintal. "That's totally uncalled for."

The PCIJ report stated that the President's declared net worth more than doubled to P143.54 million in 2008. When she was sworn into presidency in 2001, her declared networth was only P66.8 million. These figures were based on the acquisition price of her assets.

"Arroyo’s SALNs offer few clues on how she raised the big difference," the PCIJ report said.

PCIJ also compared how all the post-Marcos presidents declared their wealth and noted that, while President Arroyo met the minimum standards on what to disclose, the contents of her SALN was a "token compliance" against the more detailed SALNs of Presidents Aquino and Ramos.

No libel

Macalintal said Mrs. Arroyo is prepared to submit other requirements to prove there was nothing wrong with her SALN declaration, nor with the rise in the net worth. He said the president had no intention of fooling the public with her SALN.

Rondain said that, even if it was not required, the president's SALN declaration includes the First Gentleman's transactions and earnings in the stock market and real estate, including the sale last year of a piece of land in Bulacan.

Macalintal believes there was malice in the PCIJ report since it was released just a few months away from the start of the election season.

However, he said the First Gentleman has no intention of filing a libel complaint against the PCIJ.

Full disclosure not necessary

Both lawyers stressed that Mrs. Arroyo does not interfere in the business deals of her husband since, as head of the family, Mr. Arroyo handles such matters.

Macalintal said the records on transactions and earnings from the stock market are with the Philippine Stock Exchange.

In an interview with ANC's On The Scene, Presidential legal adviser Raul Gonzalez on Monday said Mrs. Arroyo is not required to release details of her investments.

Gonzalez said that as long as Mrs. Arroyo declared the amount of her stock investments, and identified the companies from which she bought equity, releasing all the details of these investments to the public is no longer necessary.

He said only a proper investigation can compel the President to reveal all details of her investments.

"I would consider that (indicating generic stock investments in the President's SALN) as a big substantial compliance. So anybody who would want to dig deeper into that should probably take her to something else, by either asking for a probe on the matter or asking the President herself for the sake of transparency," Gonzalez said.

The PCIJ report said the phenomenal growth of the Arroyo's wealth was partly explained by ownership in stocks of, or ownership units in, companies. It noted that the family's equity holdings increased "from P55 million in 2006 to P62 million in 2007, to P110 million in 2008."

But it said only the total amounts of her stock holdings were available in her SALNs. "These data (companies the Arroyo's invested in) are sorely missing in her SALNs, making it difficult to assess the veracity of Arroyo’s net worth."

SALN is 'confidential'

Gonzalez added that SALN is a confidential document to protect public officials from blackmail and harassment.

"These Statements of Assets and Liabilities are basically confidential, because I think what the law here protects is the possibility of harassment and blackmail by people who would just like to harass somebody," he added.

The PCIJ report was based on Mrs. Arroyo's SALN submissions since she assumed the presidency in 2001.

SALN is a public document as enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. Under Article XI, public officials are considered "accountable to the people." It stressed that  a “public office is a public trust."

The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019, enacted in 1960) requires all public officials to file detailed sworn SALN every year. According to a Newsbreak report on Democracy and Governance in the Philippines, this is supposed to include “the amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family expenses and the amount of income taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year,”

In 1989, this method of preventing corruption by checking on the financial status of government officials and employees was further strengthened by the enactment of RA 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Government Officials and Employees.

The new law took matters a step further by stating that “the public has the right to know [the] assets, liabilities, net worth and financial and business interests [of public officials] including those of their spouses and of unmarried children under eighteen years of age living in their households.”

Explain increase

Meanwhile, party-list group Akbayan has also added its voice to calls for Mrs. Arroyo to explain the sharp rise of her assets, liabilities and net worth.

In a statement, Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros also called for an independent audit and investigation on Arroyo’s wealth, saying that the Ombudsman could not be trusted to do its job.

She also said that there could be a possibility of a "heftier hidden wealth."

"She has declared that her coin purse grew heavier. Just imagine what’s in her pockets or in her cash vaults, and how much she has secretly stashed elsewhere. One could only surmise how much she has earned in her 8 years in Malacañang," she said.