Aquino’s 2009-2015 SALN: Net worth grew by more than 300%

MANILA, Philippines – In 2015, President Benigno Aquino III’s last full year as the country’s leader, he declared a net worth of P68.78 million.

This 2015 net worth is just slightly higher than the P68.31 million he declared in his 2014 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

But while Aquino’s net worth declarations in his two recent SALNs aren’t far from each other, it’s a different story when his pre-presidency SALN is compared.

In 2009, a year before he was elected to Malacañang, he declared a net worth of only P15.44 million. Beside his latest SALN, it would reveal a huge 345.43% increase in net worth from 2009 to 2015.

The increase in Aquino’s net worth (in percentage) is even higher than the increase in the net worth of his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Right from the start

It was when he assumed the presidency in 2010 that his wealth significantly increased.

While Aquino declared a net worth of only P15.44 million in December 2009 (his last annual SALN as a senator), it shot up to P50.19 million in June 2010 (his “entry” SALN, which is required of newly-elected officials within 30 days after assumption of office).

The difference is huge, considering that these SALN declarations were made just 6 months apart.

Contributing to this climb in net worth is Aquino’s real assets, which grew from just less than a million in December 2009 to more than P33 million in June 2010.

His additional assets were said to be inherited, following the death of his mother, former president Corazon Aquino, in August 2009. These inherited properties include a residential house and lot in Quezon City valued at P13.8 million, and a commercial lot in San Juan City worth P7.02 million.

It was also reported that Aquino’s camp declared P36.9 million in excess campaign donations, which led to conjecture that this could be a factor in the increase in his wealth.

But this was dismissed in a story by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), which said: “If he had enrolled his P36.9-million excess campaign donations as part of his income in 2010, according to the BIR’s Revenue Regulation 7-2011 dated Feb. 16, 2011, Aquino should have paid millions more in taxes. BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares tells the PCIJ that the excess campaign funds were not recorded in the Income Tax Return (ITR) for 2010 that the president filed within the deadline last Apr. 15.”

In fact, the biggest increase in Aquino’s cash came only in his 2011 SALN, where he declared having P26.22 million. It was previously P6.22 million in his 2010 SALN.

Aquino explained that the increase in his 2011 SALN was still because of inheritance finalized that year. But this only affected his real assets, and not his other personal properties.

One factor that could have contributed to Aquino’s 2011 cash increase is the decrease in the value of his vehicles and receivables for that year. The decrease in the amount of these two assets from 2010 to 2011 reached more than P20 million, which is almost equivalent to the cash increase. 

Aquino had sold his Porsche car 6 months after he bought it in 2011. The SALN does not provide a breakdown of the receivables.

Higher than Arroyo

The high growth in Aquino’s SALN exceeds that of his predecessor, Arroyo.

Aquino was elected in 2010, while Arroyo began her full 6-year term as president in 2004. While his net worth rose by more than 300% from 2009 to 2015, she registered an increase of over 90% in her wealth declaration from 2003 to 2009.

	Net Worth		Percentage increase
Aquino	2015 – P68.78 million	2009 – P15.44 million	345.43%
Arroyo	2009 – P145.79 million	2003 – P75.70 million	92.60%

Arroyo was elected to the presidency in 2001 after the removal of then president Joseph Estrada. If her 2000 SALN (Arroyo’s last before becoming president) were compared with her 2009 SALN, the percentage increase in her net worth is still lower than that of Aquino.

	Net Worth		Percentage increase
Aquino	2015 – P68.78 million	2009 – P15.44 million	345.43%
Arroyo	2009 – P145.79 million	2000 – P39.54 million	268.72%

But these increases are nothing compared to the wealth accumulation of Vice President Jejomar Binay, whose net worth surged from P2.5 million in 1998 to P60 million in 2013 – a 2,278.37% jump in wealth declaration. – Rappler.com