(Update) Arroyo sons deny irregularities in SALNs

Presidential sons Juan Miguel "Mikey" and Diosdado Ignacio "Dato" Macapagal Arroyo on Monday denied irregularities in their Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) concerning luxury homes they bought in the United States after they were elected into office. In separate text messages, the two Arroyos said they declared all of their properties in their SALNs, contrary to the Vera Files report saying that Mikey did not declare in his 2007 and 2008 SALNs a beachfront property in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. “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," Mikey said in a text message to reporters. Dato told GMA News in a text message, "'Di na siguro kailangan magpa-interview. Nasa SALN naman po lahat at walang namang nakatago (I don't think an interview is needed. It's all in the SALN and nothing is hidden)." The Vera Files report said a house located at 1655 Beach Park Blvd in Foster City in San Mateo County that Mikey bought was not in his 2007 and 2008 SALNs. The report said that even if Mikey relinquished to his wife Angela 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." But Mikey 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." The eldest presidential son added, “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 a Vera Files statement issued in response to Mikey, however, the San Mateo County Assessor’s Office yielded no record of Beach Way Park or its ownership of the Foster City property. Communication breakdown The Vera Files report said the authors repeatedly attempted to get his side by phone, which Mikey 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," he said. In its statement, however, Vera Files maintained that they repeatedly tried to contact Mikey through calls and text messages. Mikey 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. For his part, House Speaker Prospero Nograles said "a perusal of the Statement of Assets and Liabilities of Rep. Mikey Arroyo sufficiently shows that he and his family can afford the value of the properties subject of this issue." In a text message, Nograles said the issue is "not really substantial except that Mikey is the president's eldest son." "Otherwise if he were not what he is, this issue wont even hit the news at all," he said. - GMANews.TV