SALNs, SEC docs and Presidents

The lawyers of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday claimed that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was no longer listed in the records of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as having business interest or financial connections in two of the 15 companies cited in the PCIJ’s three-part report, “Can President Arroyo Explain Her Wealth?" In particular, Atty. Ruy Rondain maintained that Mr. Arroyo is no longer listed as a “stockholder" of at least two companies – Raco-Trading Philippines and Trans Realty Co., Inc., according to the firms’ general information sheets that he obtained that day from the SEC. Asked about the other companies, Rondain said he had lost time to do further research. The PCIJ’s three-part report precisely said that Mr Arroyo was enrolled in SEC records as incorporator of Trans Realty Co. as of Oct. 8, 1980; and as incorporator of Raco-Trading Philippines, Inc., as of Oct. 9, 1980. In addition, Section 5 of the Corporation Code of the Philippines [Batas Pambansa Blg. 68] defines “Corporators and incorporators, stockholders and members" thus: “Corporators are those who compose a corporation, whether as stockholders or as members. Incorporators are those stockholders or members mentioned in the articles of incorporation as originally forming and composing the corporation and who are signatories thereof. Corporators in a stock corporation are called stockholders or shareholders. Corporators in a non-stock corporation are called members." Aside from GIS copies, the PCIJ, in fact, secured more documents from the SEC on the companies that – as per the SEC’s database updated as of October 2008 – still enroll President Arroyo (five companies) and the First Gentleman (10 companies) as incorporator or shareholder or beneficial owner. The PCIJ also obtained copies of the articles of incorporation, audited financial statements (if available), and certificates of non-compliance by some of these companies to SEC reporting requirements. Too, the PCIJ asked the SEC for copies of deeds of assignment (DOA) or certificates of divestment that Mrs. Arroyo might have issued, within the lawful requirement of 30 days from her assumption of office as president, the first time in January 2001, and again on June 30, 2004. The SEC records yielded only one DOA that Mr Arroyo had issued for his shares in Philippine Blooming Trade and Development Corp., and nothing else for the other companies. Rondain had asserted on Tuesday that the Arroyos had divested from the companies cited in the PCIJ report. PDF copies of the SEC records on these companies that President Arroyo did not declare in her SALNs from 2001 to 2008 may be viewed on www.pcij.org and www.pcij.org/blog. We have also uploaded PDF copies of the actual SALNs that Mrs. Arroyo had filed when she was senator, then vice president, and finally president, to illustrate the regression in the quantity of details that she has disclosed over the years. Finally, we are also making available PDF copies of the SALNs filed by former presidents Corazon C. Aquino, Fidel V. Ramos and Joseph Estrada, to illustrate the comparatively richer details that their SALNs show. - Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, August 2009