Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

SINCE her election to the Senate, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's net worth has increased more than tenfold, or from P6.7 million in 1992 to P72 million last year, according to statements of assets and liabilities she has been filing with the Ombudsman.

The bulk of the increase, averaging an annual 29 percent, presumably came from the interest earnings in her bank deposits, the sale and purchase of real property and stocks, and property inheritance.

The steepest increase in her net worth was recorded in 1997, a year before she ran for vice president, rising by 71 percent from the previous year's P15.3 million to P26.1 million.

It was the year her cash in hand and in the banks rose fourfold from P704,540 to P2.86 million, she bought an agricultural lot in Nasugbu, Batangas, and she inherited property from her father, former President Diosdado Macapagal, valued at P5.4 million. It was also the year she bought a Kia Besta van for which she took out a bank loan of P341,434.

Arroyo also reported sharp increases in her net worth in 1998, the year she was elected vice president, and in 2000, a year before she assumed the presidency. Her net worth rose by P10 million (42 percent), from P26.1 million to P37 million, in 1998 and by P18 million (48 percent), from P39.5 million to P58.3 million, in 2000.

Gloria Arroyo’s Networth, 1992-2002

Year	Assets (in pesos)	Liabilities (in pesos)	Networth (in pesos)	Networth increase (in pesos)	Networth increase (in %)
2002	75,548,559.88	3,500,000.00	72,048,559.88	5,263,619.52	8%
2001	70,284,940.36	3,500,000.00	66,784,940.36	8,409,701.33	14%
2000	58,375,239.03	-	58,375,239.03	18,835,055.05	48%
1999	41,540,183.98	2,000,000.00	39,540,183.98	2,513,661.98	7%
1998	38,116,336.00	1,089,814.00	37,026,522.00	10,871,566.00	42%
1997	26,496,390.00	341,434.00	26,154,956.00	10,833,424.00	71%
1996	15,321,532.00	-	15,321,532.00	2,708,862.00	21%
1995	12,783,880.00	171,210.00	12,612,670.00	3,081,696.00	32%
1994	9,940,194.00	409,220.00	9,530,974.00	1,150,575.00	14%
1993	9,323,410.00	943,011.00	8,380,399.00	1,650,206.00	25%
1992*	6,974,120.00	243,936.00	6,730,193.00	-	-

Source: Arroyo's Statements of Assets and Liabilities

*Statement for 1992 failed to include real property in computation for total assets. If computed properly, total assets should read P8,132,497.00 and networth P7,888,561.00. Networth increase from 1992 to 1993 should therefore be P1,158,368.00 or 6 percent.

In 1998, the increase was apparently the outcome of her increased investments in stocks (P6 million to P11 million), jewelry (from P1.2 million to P2 million), and law books (from 1.5 million to P2.5 million). That year, she acquired a Toyota Revo van and a Mitsubishi GLI sedan through financing.

Arroyo's cash in hand and on bank jumped from a mere P3.8 million to P36.3 million in 2000 following what appeared to be the sale of her condominium unit in Ayala, Makati. The unit, with a declared current market fair value of P13.4 million in 1980, was purchased in 1980 for P619,825. She also appeared to have disposed of a substantial volume of her stocks that year, causing the value to drop to P7.5 million from the previous year's P14 million.

The condominium unit was among the five pieces of property Arroyo had declared in her SAL when she was elected to the Senate in 1992. The others were a house and lot in Baguio City bought in 1977, an island in Cagayan bought in 1970, a residential lot in Antipolo bought in 1986, a residential lot in Las Piñas in 1989.

In 1995, the island in Cagayan and Las Las Piñas were dropped from her SAL. In their stead were a commercial lot she bought in Tayabas, Quezon for P1 million and an agricultural lot in Bulacan for P1.17 million. She bought her Nasugbu property two years later.

There were quite a few notable changes in Arroyo's declaration when she became president in 2001. One, she stopped listing First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo's businesses like LTA Inc. and LTA Realty in Makati City and JJ Agricultural Corp. in Bacolod City in her financial statements. Two, she disposed of her race horses which she acquired on various dates for P600,000. Third, she identified more relatives in government positions than she did when she was senator and vice president.

Arroyo had declared her husband's three companies in her statements for 1993, year after she was elected senator. Her declaration for 1999 also listed her husband's law firm, the Arroyo Law Office, and his directorship in Reynolds Philippines Corp., from which he resigned on March 6, 2000.

Also in 1993, Arroyo declared their joint interests in the family-run DM Press, as well as her husband's ownership of Aviatica Management and Travel Corp., a travel agency based in Makati. Interestingly, she also listed the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Scholarship Foundation Inc. she and her husband established that year.

Coincidentally, the Lualhati Foundation, a charitable organization identified with the First Couple, was founded that same year by members of the Makati Rotary Club to which First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike'' Arroyo belongs.

Neither President Arroyo nor her husband are members or officers of the foundation, although the foundation has received donations for Arroyo's projects, including P8 million from Mark Jimenez in 1999, at the time a business associate of Estrada who was wanted in the U.S. on fraud and tax evasion charges.

In 2001, Jimenez was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Manila's sixth district, but was subsequently extradited to the U.S.

While race horses no longer appeared in Arroyo's declarations as president, she reported the purchase of a Toyota Lexus in 2001, which is covered by a P3.5 million loan from the Export and Industry Bank.

Arroyo's husband and their son, Pampanga Vice Gov, Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, are known for their love for horses, according to an Aug. 18 article that appeared in the fortnightly Newsbreak.

Newsbreak said Mikey owns a horse farm, Franchino Farms Inc., which has no less than 20 local and imported race horses in its stables.

When she was senator, Arroyo had listed the following relatives as holding government positions: her half-sister Cielo M. Salgado, Pampanga vice governor; cousin Ramon Guico Jr., mayor of Binalonan, Pangasinan; and cousin Edith Demetria, member of the Pangasinan sangguniang panlawiwigan.

When she was vice president, her list comprised solely of her brother, Arthur Macapagal, who was with the Clark Development Corp.

During her two years in Malacañang, she identified the following relatives as being in government: her son Mikey, Pampanga vice governor; half-sister Cielo Salgado, Philippine National Bank board director; cousin Erlinda M. B. de Leon, special assistant to the President (confidential secretary); cousin Demetrio P. Macapagal, Quezon City regional trial court judge; cousin-in-law Carlos L. De Leon, Supreme Court assistant court administrator; and cousin-in-law Anthony A. Cortex, deputy executive director of the Garments and Textile Export Board.

Another cousin-in-law, Sophia M. Macapagal, who was listed in her declaration for 2001 as a member of the Movie and Television Review Classification Board since 1995, no longer appears in her latest statement.