‘Nothing irregular or secret in company co-ownership’

First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo said yesterday there is "nothing irregular or even secret" about the six companies that he has been reported to co-own.

These companies were never declared in President Arroyo’s sworn statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) since she started holding elective positions in government, according to the latest issue of Newsbreak magazine.

"There’s nothing at all secret about these companies, since they are a matter of public record," Mr. Arroyo said in a statement.

His lawyer, Jesus Santos, said he believed the revelations about his client’s "secret" companies were "a ridiculous side issue to draw attention away from the fact that Senator (Panfilo) Lacson’s expose is unraveling, as its numerous allegations are proven to be utterly false and malicious."

Lacson has accused the First Gentleman of keeping secret bank accounts for money laundering activities.

Mr. Arroyo was reported to be part of the JMA Agricultural Development Corp., which was formed in January 1975; Alaja Agro-Industrial Corp., in March 1975; Raco Trading Phils. Inc., in September 1980; and Trans Realty Co. Inc., in October 1980. These never figured in then Senator Arroyo’s SALN. At the time, they were already married – they wed in 1968.

Although Mr. Arroyo was only listed as the lawyer of JMA Agricultural and Alaja Agro-Industrial at the time of their incorporation, he was recently identified in media releases as the one who placed portions of the companies’ lands under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

In 1993, the Eva Development Corp., engaged mainly in real estate, was formed but was never disclosed by Mrs. Arroyo. Then Senator Arroyo co-owned it with her parents, the late former President Diosdado Macapagal and Evangelina Macapagal, her brother Diosdado Macapagal Jr., and her husband.

Mr. Arroyo clarified that several of the companies — JMA Agricultural Development Corp., Alaja Agro-Industrial Corp., and Raco Trading Phils. — "belonged to relatives and other people."

The First Gentleman said JMA Agricultural Development Corp. is the company of his uncle Jose Ma. Arroyo, and that "his heirs can attest to that."

Another uncle, Antonio Arroyo, owns Alaja Agro-Industrial Corp., he said, noting that his uncle "and his children can attest to that."

Mr. Arroyo claimed he was the lawyer for Raco Trading Phils., which belongs to Ramon Arnaiz, but that his services were terminated "about 16 years ago."

He also said that he "was only a nominee" in Trans Realty Co., which "had been closed for two decades."

Mr. Arroyo added that his wife has not been a shareholder of Eva Development Corp. for many years.

The foundations formed by her husband which the President did not list down in her SALN are the Ateneo Law Class ’72 Foundation, Kaibigan ni GMA Foundation, and the First Gentleman Foundation. The first two are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The last one has no SEC records so far but already operates – it took out newspaper advertisements to answer, albeit obliquely, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s allegations of money laundering against him.

Santos said the First Gentleman "did not need to declare his interests of participation in foundations in the (SALN), since these were non-stock and non-profit entities."

Mr. Arroyo, in his statement, said the reason there is no need to put interests or participation in foundations in the SALN is "because there are neither assets nor liabilities since foundations are merely like associations or civic organizations which are non-stock and non-profit."

The President’s SALN for 1991 and 1992 did not list any of her husband’s business and financial interests. From 1993 to 2000, four companies where her husband was involved were consistently in her SALN: LTA Inc., a realty firm named after the First Gentleman’s mother, Lourdes Tuason Arroyo; LTA Realty Corp., JJ Agricultural Corp., and Aviatica Travel and Management Corp.

There were variations in the list in 1993, when she also listed DM Press Inc. and the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Scholarship Foundation, where they both have interests; in 1999, when Mr. Arroyo served as director of Reynolds Philippines Corp. for six months, and also established his Arroyo Law Office; and in 2000, when Aviatica was removed from the list.

Aviatica lists Honorio Poblador III, Mr. Arroyo’s buddy since high school in the Ateneo, as one of the incorporators.

Since she assumed the presidency, Mrs. Arroyo has stopped listing in her SALN any of her and her husband’s business interests and financial connections.

The First Gentleman said that while he served as director for Reynolds Philippines for six months, as far as he knew the firm was already closed. DM Press, he said, was closed during the martial law years.

Records of the SEC revealed that Victoria Toh, Arroyo’s personal secretary, and her relatives are also the First Gentleman’s co-owners of Pacific Mint International Corp., a company trading food and pharmaceuticals that was formed in May 1997.

The President had never disclosed her husband’s shares in Pacific Mint.

"I was neither an owner or active officer of Pacific Mint, nor did I at any time get involved in its operations," Mr. Arroyo said.

He said he indeed helped set up the corporation, in which he merely acted as the Toh family’s nominee during the incorporation process.

"The practice of helping clients set up legitimate corporations and to act as nominee for their clients in the incorporation process was not unusual in the legal profession," the First Gentleman said.

In his statement, Mr. Arroyo said that in 1997, Pacific Mint was put up for Salvador Guevarra, an in-law of the Tohs from Guam, "hence the name Pacific Mint. I believe he closed the company sometime in 1998 or 1999 at the latest, when he left the Philippines."

On the other hand, Lacson said the companies and foundations of the First Couple that were not listed in their SALN "can be used as evidence to direct link the President in her husband’s alleged money-laundering activities."

"These secret companies and foundations might be part of an intricate layer of money-laundering scheme involving the First Gentleman," Lacson said in a statement.

Lacson, noting that the undisclosed companies have combined assets worth P61 million but only three of which are earning, said they may have been used as the "washing machines of the First Couple’s ill-gotten wealth before the funds are transferred to various banks, such as the Jose Pidal account."

"Maybe that’s the reason why Malacañang is moving heaven and earth to cover up the Jose Pidal mystery," Lacson said.

No special protection

At the same time, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the President is maintaining her previous decision not to extend special protection to the First Gentleman despite Lacson’s allegations.

"Mrs. Arroyo is allowing the First Gentleman to answer all accusations against him on his own," Bunye said in reaction to Lacson’s statement that the real Jose Pidal is Mr. Arroyo’s brother.

In a radio interview, Bunye said Malacañang is confident the First Gentleman would be able to mount a legal defense without any assistance from the President.

"The President does not want to grant any special protection for the First Gentleman or any other member of her family so the fight would be fair," he said.

Bunye, however, said Malacañang would be keeping an eye on developments on the charges against Mr. Arroyo — including hearings conducted by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee — but "only for monitoring purposes."

The First Gentleman’s camp, however, would neither confirm nor deny that the man claiming to be Jose Pidal is Mr. Arroyo’s brother.

"It’s premature to give a statement at this point but it is obvious that Senator Lacson’s expose is collapsing like a house of cards with the coming forward of the real Jose Pidal," a source from Mr. Arroyo’s camp told The STAR.

Santos, for his part, said Lacson’s accusations are "strange," but admitted that he had not spoken with his client regarding Lacson’s latest allegation.

He also said Lacson "is now desperately looking for means to jumpstart his sputtering black propaganda campaign against the First Gentleman,"

When the real Jose Pidal comes out in the open, the "extent of the deception" wrought by Lacson would also be revealed, Santos added.

Meanwhile, Bunye vehemently denied reports that rumors linking Mr. Arroyo to his secretary Victoria Toh have adversely affected the First Couple’s relationship.

"Such reports are mere speculation and without any basis at all," Bunye said.

He declined to comment on reports that critics of the President would be coming out with a new expose on the First Couple’s alleged other "undisclosed assets."

"Let us just wait for this new expose but we are confident this could properly be explained," Bunye said. — With Mayen Jaymalin, Nikko Dizon