Presidential son and Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo on Tuesday said he is blaming himself for his seemingly "confused" answers on a recent television interview that earned him flak when it spread on the Internet. In an interview over radio dzRH, Mikey also admitted that the questions of Winnie Monsod, one of the hosts of GMA’s morning program Unang Hirit, had made him look “stupid." "If my answers to those questions seem a little confused, ako lang po ang dapat sisihin (I am the only one to blame). It’s my mistake alone," Mikey said. The eldest son of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo found himself in the center of controversy after Vera Files reported that he did not declare in his SALNs a property he acquired in the United States after he became a congressman.
Mikey said he did the
Unang Hirit interview because he had nothing to hide. "I have all the good intentions and it must have shown in my appearance, as many friends texted me or called me after the program saying it is the right and brave thing to do," he said. The lawmaker said he should have let his lawyer and his accountant answer the questions thrown at him regarding his 2007 and 2008 Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN). In the
Unang Hirit interview, Monsod and co-host Arnold Clavio
questioned Mikey over his SALNs. Monsod in particular repeatedly insisted that Mikey explain the sharp increase in his declared wealth. Mikey admitted his “inability" to cope with Monsod’s questioning, saying it may have given the public the “wrong perception" about him. "I respect her (Monsod), and though her questioning had made me look bad or stupid, I guess very few people can actually really stand to questioning on live TV before millions of people especially early in the morning," he said. Ruy Rondain, Mikey's lawyer who accompanied him during the dzRH interview, maintained that there was nothing irregular with his client's SALNs. "
Kung titignan mo yung SALN niya na unang-unang na-file niya nakadeklara nga dun P6 million. Pagkatapos a few months later, nag-file din sya, bumaba pa nga, naging P 5 million lang," Rondain said. (Mikey declared P6 million in his first SALN, then a few months later he filed another one wherein his declared wealth went down to P5 million.) Rondain said Mikey even filed a supplemental SALN containing his and his wife Angela's wedding gifts when the two got married in 2002. The lawyer said Mikey's wife, Angela, is "independently wealthy." The Vera Files report said Mikey failed to declare in his 2007 and 2008 SALNs 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 2006. Mikey maintained that the house was not owned by his wife but by a company called Beach Way LLC, of which he is a shareholder. He said his involvement with the company is declared in his SALN.
- GMANews.TV 
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