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Mikey Arroyo denies irregularities in his SALN


Presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Macapagal Arroyo on Monday vehemently denied an investigative report alleging that he failed to declare in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) a $1.32 million or P63.7 million property in California. In a text message, Arroyo said he had "always been transparent" about his SALNs ever since he entered public office, contrary to the Vera Files report that said he did not declare in his 2007 and 2008 SALNs a beachfront property in the San Francisco Bay Area in California which he bought and then transferred to his wife Angela in 2006. “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," Arroyo said. “In regard 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 was even attested to by the writer or the writers of the story," he said. Arroyo said, “Unfortunately, either the writer or writers deliberately imposed a malicious twist on the story or they lack knowledge on the legal aspects regarding corporations." According to the Vera Files report, the house in question is located at 1655 Beach Park Blvd in Foster City in San Mateo County. It said that even if Arroyo relinquished to his wife any right to the property, guidelines for the filing of SALNs in the Philippines require public officials to declare property owned by their spouses. Section 8 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees says "public officials and employees have an obligation to accomplish and submit declarations under oath of, and the public has the right to know, their assets, liabilities, net worth and financial and business interests including those of their spouses and of unmarried children under 18 years of age living in their households." The Vera Files report said the authors repeatedly attempted to get his side by phone, which Arroyo denied. “There is no truth to the claims of Vera Files I would not reply to their query because in the first place, they have not contacted me. Vera Files did not try to reach me as they claim to. If they had, I would have taken time to talk to them," said the presidential son. Arroyo said anyone who wants to question his SALN can talk to his lawyer who prepared the document. “If they still have doubts, they can sue me," he added. Saying there are "far more important things" that he needs to attend to, the Pampanga congressman said he would not discuss the issue further. “As much as possible, I don’t want to waste my time dealing with issues like this. 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 said, adding that as chairman of the House energy committee, he is helping find ways to slash power rates and fuel prices. - Johanna Camille Sisante, GMANews.TV

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