No government funds in Arroyo foundations, lawyers say

Lawyers of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, on Wednesday released a statement saying none of the foundations that list the First Couple as incorporators or members received funding from the government. The statement was in response to a report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) linking the First Couple to 14 foundations that are not accredited as non-government organizations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). [See: Arroyo foundations are not accredited as NGOs] In the press statement, lawyers Romulo Macalintal and Ruy Alberto Rondain said the foundations linked to the Arroyos get funding solely from private donations and not from the government. “None of the foundations they (the President and her husband) were involved in received any funding, ‘pork’, loan or any financial assistance of any kind or nature from the government or any of its instrumentalities. They have been funded solely from private donations," the First Couple’s lawyers said. They added that some of the foundations mentioned in the PCIJ report no longer exist. “The inability to comply with the reportorial requirements of the SEC was caused simply by the fact that some of these foundations have since become inactive," they said. The statement added that Mrs. Arroyo and her husband were never involved in five of the foundations mentioned in the PCIJ report: Lualhati, Kasangga, Gabay, Kagabay ni Glo and Amigo Foundations. The lawyers further clarified that the Centrist Democrat International Asia-Pacific, Inc. (CDI-Asia-Pacific), one of the foundations the PCIJ said was established during the Arroyo administration, was an association and not a foundation. According to Macalintal and Rondain, CDI-Asia-Pacific was formed by former Speaker Jose De Venecia during an international parliamentary assembly that he hosted in Manila in 2005. The lawyers said De Venecia only listed Mrs. Arroyo as an incorporator of CDI-Asia-Pacific. “This proves that this association is not a foundation, and it certainly does not benefit from government funds," they said. Referring to one of the foundations described in a list provided by PCIJ as "identified with the Arroyos," the statement said: "The President and the First Gentleman have not even heard of the "GMA Foundation" identified in the article. The PCIJ might have been referring to "GMA", the network, not "GMA", The President." In response, GMA Network, the parent company of GMANews.TV., said in a statement: "GMA Network, Inc. is not in any way involved in the so-called Ginintuang at Makabayang Alay (GMA) Foundation mentioned in the PCIJ report. The Network's "GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc." is a different entity." The First Couple’s lawyers asked the PCIJ “to avoid malicious insinuations" and called its report an “editorial" and a “biased" article that has no basis. “By its own admission, neither does the (PCIJ) possess any data or evidence of wrong-doing by the Arroyos, nor has it cited any specific law that may have been violated in the first place," they said. In response to the lawyers’ statement, PCIJ executive director Malou Mangahas sent an e-mail saying, “With all due respect, the PCIJ believes it knows journalism far better than the lawyers of the President and the First Gentleman." – ANDREO C. CALONZO, GMANews.TV