Miriam Grace A. Go
Newsbreak
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.
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 (Newsbreak)
I’m sure Mikey Arroyo inherited his father’s expertise: financial wizardry otherwise known as “hocus pocus”, i.e., you see 1,000 dollars (50,000 pesos) and voila! You end up with more than a million dollars in no time at all (magic!!!).
And folks, remember, that’s the only hocus pocus result that’s been uncovered. I betcha there’s a lot more where that 1,000 dollars came from!!!!
Kay bata pa e KURAP na…a young kurap politician, paano titino ang Pinas nito ke bagito pa polluted na ang kukote sa kagaguhan?
Saan patutungo ang Pinas kung ang tulad nito ang silang magsisi-ugit ng kapalaran ng ating bansa?
Ginagawang pagkakitaan ang pagiging lingkod-bulsa…ang bilis magpayaman sa pera ng bayan?
Mga BOBO kasi ang mga kababayan ni Mickey Mouse…kundi nila ito iboto sa TONGgreso, sana mababawasan ang kurap at sinungaling.
Ang kaso bigay daw sa kanya ang milyones na yan sa kasal at balato sa eleksyon? It’s a high time to investigate ang kaso na ito sapagka’t mayroong pag-amin?
Si Pangulong Erap pinagtulungan nilang ilampaso ng dahil sa listahan ni Sabit Singson…ang WETENG LORD?
Kung sa sistema nating natatapalan ng pera ang mga nasa gobierno, napakadaling gumawa ng mga supplemental na papel. I can not trust the system. I will bank on the US probe on his wife’s ability to buy properties in the US instead.
Ano ang maaasahan natin kay chedeng na hawak nila sa leeg, sa DOJ na hawak din nila sa leeg at sa lahat na nakatataas na opisyal na lahat ay nakapwesto dahil sa nanay niyang super sinungaling at corrupt!
Other than making noise, nothing seem to be resolved in the Philippines. The upright people are jailed, the hoodlums are lording over the country. Hopefully with a change in the administration, the tide turns for the better.
Kawawang mga anak ni pidal, tinuruan ng pagnanakaw at pagsisinungaling.
cmgbx777 – September 12, 2009 6:01 am
Kawawang mga anak ni pidal, tinuruan ng pagnanakaw at pagsisinungaling
Ang kawawa dito ay ang bansa natin at lalo lang nababaon sa utang at walang trabaho. PU #&@* n ni Mikey. Noon ko pa isusulat dito ang kanyang kayamanan na biglang laki.
Talo pa nila si Erap na tinagurian nilang plunderer. Ano magsalita kayong mga magagaling na lintik na nagtulong-tulong para sipain si Erap noon. Ano dito lang sa mga biik ng mga Arroyo wala kayong magawa.
Natawa ako dito!
Ano dito lang sa mga biik ng mga Arroyo wala kayong magawa.
I haven’t heard that word in a long long time…hihihi! Mikey Biik Arroyo and Dato Biik Arroyo…
I dun like Glueria and her kids….
Apparently, he got it big when he was Vice Governor and had difficulty outsetting Lapid, who did not want to leave his office. Laki siguro ng kita sa jueteng!!!
Di ba lolo niya jueteng lord din. Iyan ang proverbial, “Kung ano ang puno siyang bunga!” Ngeeeeeeeek!
Tigas naman ng ulo. Sinabi nang di plunder ang kasalanan ni Erap dahil wala naman siyang manakaw sa kaban noon. Philandering pa, baka. Ang kasalanan niya iyong pagtanggap niya ng suhol from Sabit Singson, who was lobbying for the legalization of jueteng! Intiende?
Sorry, not “outsetting.” It should be “outsitting.” Di naman ako bisaya bakit nagkaganoon?
Laki siguro ng kita sa jueteng!!! — Grizzy
Ayan sa jueteng din isinabit ni Chavit si Erap at rason para sipain at alipustain ang pagkatao ni Erap.
Ano magsalita kayong mga magagaling na lintik na nagtulong-tulong para sipain si Erap noon. Ano, dito lang sa mga biik ng mga Arroyo wala kayong magawa.
For all you know, PSB, mga pakawala din ni Gloria Dorobo lahat ng tatakbo. Kaya huwag ka nang umasa muna until the brave ones are released from prison or unless natoto na ang mga pilipino at di na papayag na magpaloko, magpatanga, at magpagago sa mga unggoy!!!
Hangga’t di tinatanggal iyong mga remnants ng graft and corruption before, during and after Martial Law, ganoon pa rin. Wala namang binabago sa totoo lang. It’s the same story.
Siguro kung lahat ng pilipino nakapag-aral, di na sila makakalusot. Kaya nga wala silang compulsory education sa Pilipinas that will jail parents who don’t send their children to school. Entonces, maraming madaling mauto dahil walang alam! Saklap, di ba?
galing ako sa isang spanish site,pinag uusapan nila ang tungkol Mindanao,pati pala doon kumakain na ng pagpag.pinapakita kung papano ang pag process ng pagpag.nakakasuka.pagkain na baboy,kinakain pa ng tao,lalo na ang mga bata.nakakahiya!buong Spain palabas yon.
pagpunta mo naman sa site ni Miss Ellen,malalaman mo ang mga pagnanakaw na ginagawa ng mga politicos natin,lalong nakaka init ng ulo.darn thing.something must be done.kailan makukulong ang mga magnanakaw na ito!!!
Taiwan ex-president gets life for graft:http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20090912-224828/Taiwan-ex-president-gets-life-for-graft
I so ardently pray that in God’s own time (which is very soon) we will wake up one morning to the following headline:
Gloria and family get life for graft.
Ang linaw linaw na money laundering, etc., di pa rin dinarakip at protektado pa noong Speaker of the House na unggoy na palagi ring nakasahod ang kamay and most probably should also be investigated for probably hidden wealth. Tangnang kultura iyan. Ang baboy! Yuck!
Worse iyong inutang, ninakaw din! Noong panahon ni Dadong Macapagal nabaon din ang Pilipinas sa utang na di nabayaran ng mga pumalit sa kaniya. Hanggang ngayon pinaghihirapan ng mga pilipino ang pagbayad sa mga inutang niya despite the loan restructural when Marcos was toppled down. Ngayon mas lalong nalubog sa utang ang Pilipinas. Pero tuod pa rin ang mga pilipino. Hanggang tiis na lang ba at dasal na sana mas matino si Noynoy!? Yuck na yuck!!!
…loan restructure….
Kaya nga iyan ang mga maliliit na bagay na hindi ino-overlook. Wala dapat patawad kahit na sa maliit na kasalanan dahil pag dumami, ganoon din, malaki rin!!!
Di ko inaalipusta si Erap. Sinasabi ko lang ang totoong observation ko na siniguro kong totoo at di rumor lang!!! Kaya nga sinabi ko di siya guilty of plunder dahil wala naman siyang makulimbat at the time he was elected. Kaya umasa na lang sa mga donations from the jueteng lords, etc.
Amenado naman siya diyan sa totoo lang. Pero kasalanan pa rin iyon because bribery is a crime in the Philippines and anywhere else. Sa amin nga nagbibigti pa kapag nabisto.
Philandering masama rin sa totoo lang. Basis iyan kung gaano katino ang isang namumuno. Kahit sa amin dito sa Japan, basis iyan ng pagtanggal sa isang opisyal na mahuhuling may kabit. Kailangan kasing dapat leader din sila sa kalinisan, in and out!!!
Best thing we can do in fact is join the class suit of Atty. Roque and Company versus this horsey son of the biiks, or show our full support for what his group is going, financial and otherwise.
Ano ba ang magagawa ng puwersa ng mga unggoy kung talagang magbubuklod ang mga pilipino para sipain ang mga hayup na iyan. Kailangan lang namang umpisahan sa totoo lang.
Kaya mas hanga ako kay Atty. Roque kesa kay Noynoy. But right now, mas kailangan siya ng mga pilipino sa ginagawa niya ngayon. He does not need to be president to make his nation great. Iyan ang katotohanan!!!
Speaking of loan, the Philippine government has secured another loan from ADB for US$500M:
ADB approves Philippines loan
The Straits Times, August 24, 2009
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_420751.html
Dagdag babayaran ng mga Pilipino, at dagdag pera para sa kurakot!!!
Anong paki ba sa atin ng america at spain,our heroes fought to expell them from our country kaya nandito pa rin itong mga tampalasang ito ay dahil kay Lazaro Macapagal at Emilio Aguinaldo at iba pang mga traydor.
Anak ng Pokpok!
I agree….
That is what we need,we need initiative…
Sabi ko nga sa ibang loop, sana kapareho ng Pilipinas ang Taiwan. Doon sinasabunutan ang mga kurakot. You should see how they castigate iyong mga kilos kapareho ni Gloria Kulimbat at Loren Legarda. Sinasabunutan at dinudunggol sa mukha. Sarap gayahin sa totoo lang.
I’ll let you all in a little (not so) secret as to how Mikey got his millions in so short a time.
First, you need to have a mother like Gloria Arroyo.
Second, you need to have a father like Mike Arroyo.
It’s that simple. It works like magic. 😛
And, ipakilala sa kapwa magnanakaw at turuan kung paano magsinungaling at magnakaw ang mga anak. Grrrrr, may araw din kayo. mga@##@#####@@^^
Bakit si Mikey lang, bakit hindi rin isiwalat ang history ng pagyaman nina Iggy, Datu, at mga ilang sendores, katulad ni Lapid, ni Villar, at iba pa, to be fair.
We in VERA Files go by documents. So far, that was what had been uncovered. Siguro mas magaling magtago yung iba.
As to Villar, it’s in all the papers. The Senate is investigating it.
Kaya “do or die” ngayon si Villar sa eleksyon na darating. Malapit na kasing ma-expose lahat ng sekreto niya.
mumbaki,ang Spain,tumutulong sa atin,lalo sa Mindanao,para magkaroon ng alternative ang mga kabataan doon ,para hindi na mag abroad.
Ang masasabi ko lang, ang bobo mo Mikey!!!
Gumawa ka ng sarili mong hukay!
May araw din kayo, at kayo ay kakalusin ng taumbayan!
Kung ano ang puno, siya ang bunga.
Ang sinungaling ay kapatid ng magnanakaw.
Mikey unggoy ng bayan.
ML 101 (Introduction to Money Laundering)
Let us say that I have two million dollars, earned from wherever, and I want to wash it in a First World country like the US.
I could buy a house in San Francisco, for cash, for one million. Then, I transfer it to my wife, who obtains a mortgage, and pays me with the mortgage loan proceeds. That gives me a clean one million (proceeds from the sale, paid with the bank loan).
I park the other one million in a safety deposit box in a bank, and fish it out little by little, and give it to my wife to deposit in her bank account. Remember, any amount less than $10,000 does not trigger suspicion by the IRS. My wife pays her mortgage, which cleans the second million. I now have two million clean, the payment to me from the bank loan, and the house worth one million. By the way, this is also how the seller of the house will deposit my cash payment to him/her. Little by little. I’m sure we can also arrange for my payment of his lost interest, because he cannot deposit it in one shot.
With the good record of my wife, she can obtain another loan, to buy a second house, and I can wash another one million from my jueteng profits.
Grasshopper: But how is the two million brought into the US?
Master: Grasshopper, have you never heard of a diplomatic pouch? That is how Nigeria’s Obasanjo launders money. That is also how Bahruddin Bijedic of the former Yugoslavia laundered money.
Grasshopper: Is that why the Glue keeps travelling Master?
Master: Perhaps Grasshopper. By the way your observational kung fu is improving.
Grasshopper: But why the preference for the Middle East Master:
Master: Let me respond with a story Grasshopper.
This is from the book, “In Hostile Territory – Business Secrets of a Mossad Combatant”, (pages 164 – 166), by Gerald Westerby (an assumed name, of course).
The background is as follows: Mr. Westerby and colleagues staged an operation in Syria, but for some accident, had to leave millions of dollars in cash stashed in some place in Damascus. Carrying it out was not an option, so some way had to be found to launder it. Mr. Westerby’s solution was to befriend a Saudi businessman, and the following exchange ensued. Both names are fictitious.
Fayed: So what does bring you to Jeddah, my dear friend?
Westerby: Oh, the usual. It is boring. I’m afraid. Money problems, actually. Too much money, too few options.
Fayed: And what precisely does that mean?
Westerby: Only that my clients have, shall we say, made some unwise investments in the so-called emerging countries only to learn that they were emerging not quite as quickly as they had hoped. So, as I;m sure you’ve seen time enough before, they have large sums of money tied up in assets which can’t be liquidated or even if liquidated cannot be repatriated. They are stuck with cold cash in some very inconvenient places. Saudi Arabia is merely a way station for me between Yemen and Syria, where, most unfortunately, one of my clients has a rather large amount of hard currency with very few good options. But, why am I boring you with these matters?
Fayed: No, no not at all. This is what I do, after all. Well of course, not me, not now, but we have relations from our bank. We address problems like this every day. And you say you have these problems frequently?
Westerby: All the time Fayed, all the time.
Fayed: And what are, if I may ask, without offending, of course, what are “large sums”?
Westerby: Ten, fifteen million dollars at a time. Not quite in the national league, but large enough to be an irritant to my clients. You know, for many, it isn’t even the money, but the principle of salvaging at least something.
Fayed: Yes, yes, I quite agree. So you’re on your way to Syria, you say? Do you know that this is our family’s home? That is our ancestral home. Damascenes, all of the Maleks (fictitious name).
Westerby: No, I didn’t. But I am quite charmed by the city. Quite beautiful too. Unfortunately, I am there to, I suppose, write off several million dollars. We shall have to forfeit it to the government, to the Alawites, such a shame when you think of it. Good money, bad investment. (Assad, the president of Syria is an Alawite, a minority sect in Syria. Most Muslims scorn the Alawites, who are not considered to be true Muslims. Nonetheless, because of Assad’s iron rule, Alawites rule the country).
Fayed: But no, no. You shall go to our family bank there. Here, one minute.
Fayed got up from the table and disappeared into his study. He came back with a handwritten note, in Arabic, on his own stationery and, on a separate piece of paper, the name and address of the general manager of what used to be BCCI’s Damascus correspondent bank.
Fayed: You call this gentleman. He will solve your problems for you whatever they are. Tell him that I promised you so. And if this transaction goes to your satisfaction, you shall return to me and we shall do more business together. Here, there, money knows no boundaries.
We should help our selves first before asking any help,hindi pa nga natin tinutulungan ang mga sarili natin,saka yung mga foreign aid ng mga ito kinukurakot nina Ate Glue,it is no sense to give us foreign aid suntok sa bwan lang ang ginagawa….
In short tayo rin ang makakatanggal ng Labor Export Policy at sa mga trapo we don’t need any Uncle Sam or others to help us,We should have initiative.
SnV, very interesting.
It just dawned on me. Didn’t Amelita Villarosa go to Syria from the Le Cirque dinner?
Wasn’t Villarosa’s hubby just released from prison recently? Wow, ang kapalit ng freedom ng hubby eh naging “runner” siya ni boobuwit!
Most likely this pandak is using “hawala” to launder their ill-gotten wealth.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1871437.stm
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m/template.rc/1.26.7983/
Remember the article about that Petron – Ashmore – Saudi Aramco divestment.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/mar15/edit.htm
Remember too that pidal mafia put their sons and allies in key positions in energy department and I think they put former spokesman Defensor in Philippine Central Bank.
About a month ago, the gentleman pig went with pandak in NY. Did they sign papers there concerning their hidden bank accounts in US and UK?
That Ashmore is registered Investment company in UK. Middle East countries like Saudi, Dubai, and other countries are very effecient in using “hawala.” Seems to me that this ashmore is a conduit to money laundering by pidal mafia.
pandak is going to UK and Saudi:
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=504680&publicationSubCategoryId=200
Can we connect a dot here? Maybe, it is just a pigment of my imagination? Maybe, I am just hungry and sleepy, that’s why my little brain is hallucinating.
xman, Ashmore’s interests in the Philippines are overseen by uncle-nephew pair Bobby Ongpin and Eric Recto. Ongpin’s investments surge is largely in the energy sector where the suspected combined loot from Arroyo-Marcos-Danding is the seed money, according to Ayala and Tektite insiders.
Their investments revolve around their partners’ companies like Walter Brown’s Philex (mining/oil), Forum Energy (oil/gas), and Monte Oro(mining/oil/gas/TRANSCO); Super-crony Ricky Razon also owns part of Forum and Monte Oro; Danding and SMC is now a major player in Petron and Meralco too. The other big fishes in Malacañang’s mafia are likewise co-owners in these companies.
I’ve suspected for long that these acquisitions are actually money-laundering and that foreign companies involved are mere dummies of local ones to obscure the transfers of huge amounts of money inflow/outflow. The set-up hedge fund and holding companies as managers of their loots and register them abroad. Even Philex Gold, an offspring of oldtimer Philex Mining, is registered in Canada. WTF?
Tongue, thanks for the follow up. It is a concise intro on how these mafias operate.
Palawan oil is worth billions and Mindanao gas/oil/precious metals are worth billions. All these means billions of dollars worth of money laundering for pidal mafia.
pandak controls the military generals, tongressmen, majority of senatongs, arroyo supreme court, etc.. Given all that, it is very hard for me to believe that pandak will not perpetuate her stolen power through martial law (via 2010 failure of election) or a junta with Gibo as a figure head but the real stolen power rest with pandak.
I remember the published report that Imelda told the media that they will never leave malacanang. A year before the second term of Marcos was about to end, he declared martial law. Gentleman pig also said to his golfing buddies that they will never leave malacanang.