Jose Rizal flips the bird on Gloria et al

Just a few minutes ago, I found myself wondering what Jose Rizal would think about President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, her husband, and children.

Then while browsing through Facebook, I found the answer.

Here's an article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer regarding Mikey Arroyo's undeclared wealth.

(Dick Gordon's father told him something that he took to heart and passed this on to his own children, the dictum goes: "Ang paglilingkod sa bayan ay BIGAY BUHAY, hindi HANAPBUHAY." That's one smart American there!)

I declare everything I own—Mikey Arroyo
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:58:00 08/31/2009

MANILA, Philippines — Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo on Monday refuted reports of irregularities in his statement of assets liabilities and net worth (SALN), calling them "malicious" and waste of his time.

“I have always been transparent with my SALN ever since I entered public office. I have declared everything I own there. It is self-explanatory,” said Arroyo, eldest son of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in a statement.

INQUIRER.net and other media organizations carried the report of Vera Files exposing that Arroyo failed to declare in his 2007 and 2008 SALN a $1.32-million or P63.7-million beachfront property in the San Francisco Bay Area in California which he bought and then transferred to his wife Angela in 2005.

The house is located at 1655 Beach Park Blvd in Foster City in San Mateo County.

Vera Files said that while the congressman-son of the President declared a residential house in the United States in his SALN for 2005 and 2006, he did not mention it in his SALN for the two succeeding years.

Vera Files also reported that the young Arroyo is indeed a shareholder in Beach Way Park LLC which is located on Beach Park Blvd California, the same street where the Foster City property is located.

“With regards to the San Francisco Bay house, it is registered under beach Way Park LLC in which I am a shareholder and which I declared in my SALN. And this fact was even attested to by the writer or the writers of the story," he added.

The congressman said the report was misleading either due to the writers’ malicious intent or lack of knowledge on the matter.

“Unfortunately, either the writer or writers deliberately imposed a malicious twist on the story or they lack knowledge on the legal aspects regarding corporations," he said.

Arroyo said those who have questions on his SALN can talk to his lawyer or those who do not believe him can sue him.

“As much as possible, I don’t want to waste my time dealing with issues like this,” said Arroyo. “There are far more important things to do especially in helping the government find ways to lessen the effects if not bail us out of the impact of the global financial crisis.”

Arroyo also denied that he snubbed the writers' request for an interview to get his reaction, stressing that the news agency did not attempt to reach him.