Net worth as Senate assistant grew 113 times before becoming vice governor

MANILA - President Arroyo’s oldest child, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, has lately been under scrutiny not only for allegedly misdeclaring his properties but also for being unable to explain satisfactorily how his net worth grew by more than 1,600% in the 7 years that he was an elected official.

Now, he may have to explain, too, the wealth that he acquired before getting elected as vice governor of Pampanga in 2001.

Newsbreak research shows that the rate by which Mikey’s net worth increased from the time he first served as his mother’s executive assistant in the Senate, to his election as provincial vice governor—an 8-year period—was far more dramatic.

From only P50,000 in 1993—based on the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) he filed with the Senate secretary—Mikey’s net worth grew to P5.72 million by 2001, the year he was elected vice governor. It represented an increase of 11,300%.

Newsbreak got Mikey’s records in the Senate to build on the reports recently released by Vera Files that President Arroyo’s sons, Mikey and Diosdado (or Dato), had purchased real estate properties after their election as congressmen but didn’t properly declare them in their SALNs. Copies of their SALNs from 2001 to 2008 obtained by the writers showed Mikey’s declared net worth increasing from P5.7 million in 2001 to P74.4 million in 2004 and to P99.2 million last year. (Click here to see the table of Mikey’s SALNs from 1992 to 2008.) 

Mikey started working for his mother, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when the latter was first elected senator in 1992. In 1995, Gloria was re-elected senator; in 1998, as vice president.

In his SALN for 1992, Mikey didn’t declare anything except his personal information.

For 1993, he declared no real properties and no liabilities. His only declared assets then was his “cash on hand” of P50,000, also his net worth.

For 1994, he declared a net worth of P320,000. He declared no real properties and no liabilities. His assets included P200,000 worth of “personal effects” and P120,000 cash.

From 1995 to 2000, according to various reports, Mikey said he didn’t have to file SALN because he was abroad, studying. Mikey, before running in Pampanga, also dabbled in acting for action movies.

However, in an interview with Newsbreak in 2001—before he ran for vice governor—he said he had been backstopping his mother in her political career, and had been involved in all of her 3 campaigns—in 1992, 1995, and 1998.

He also said then that if elected vice governor, he would bring transparency and accountability to his office: “Young people tend to be bold, aggressive. They are not so eaten up by the system. I guess that—transparency, the belief in accountability—is what I can offer…aside from my supposed link with my mom.” (Click here to read Mikey’s first person account.) 

Mikey, after one term as vice governor, was elected congressman of Pampanga’s second district in 2004 and 2007. He later explained in a TV interview that the tremendous increase in his assets in the last 7 years that Vera Files uncovered was due to wedding gifts and surplus campaign contributions.

In a later interview, he said the increase reflected in his SALNs could be attributed to the wealth of his wife which he had to integrate in his declarations. Mikey married his second cousin Angela Montenegro in 2002.

His lawyer, Ruy Rondain, said Vera Files deliberately left out the supplemental SALN filed by Mikey in 2003, reflecting the increase in his wealth after the wedding, to make it appear that presidential son misdeclared his assets.

“They knew there was a supplement SALN in 2003, why did they not include it in their research? Is it because it would have ruined their foregone conclusion that my client had built up his wealth scandalously and not gradually?” Rondain was quoted in news reports.

Newsbreak tried to get Mikey's side through his lawyer, Rondain, but we didn't get a reply. —with reports from Lilita Balane and Carmela Fonbuena, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak