MALACAÑANG slammed Thursday, April 4, the allegedly "suspicious timing" of the release of a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report about the supposed "big spikes" in President Rodrigo Duterte and his children's wealth.
"The President’s wealth, including those of his immediate family members, has been the favorite subject of media reports during election campaign season," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
"The timing of the release is very much suspect," he added.
The PCIJ, in its article published Thursday, April 4, noted that Duterte and his children, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte, "now all have a net worth in eight digits each."
The PCIJ report stressed that the President and two of his children "have all consistently grown richer over the years, even on the modest salaries they have received for various public posts, and despite the negligible retained earnings reflected in the financial statements of the companies they own or co-own."
"Not surprisingly, father, son, and daughter, now all have a net worth eight digits each; Sara seems to be the wealthiest among the three as of their 2017 SALNs, Duterte a far second, and Paolo, a close third," the report read.
"How and why their fortunes are rising remain a mystery; the numbers do not seem to add up, and what they reveal in their SALNs breed riddles of incongruent details instead of clarifying questions," it added.
The PCIJ came out with such finding after looking at the 22 SALNs of Duterte filed since 1998, 11 filed by Paolo since 2007, and eight filed by Sara since 2007.
It also checked with the Securities and Exchange Commission records on the business interests and financial connections listed and not listed in the particular presidential family's SALNs, and with relevant sources, the background of their major business associates, debtors and relatives in government.
The PCIJ revealed that in the presidential family's respective SALNs for 2017, the President declared a net worth of P28.54 million, while his presidential son and daughter declared a net worth of P27.74 million and P44.83 million, respectively.
"The numbers show that across the 10-year period from 2007, Rodrigo's wealth nearly tripled, Paolo's more than tripled, and Sara's grew more than six times," it said.
"The President's net worth through the years seems to have risen slowly but steadily, with an average annual increase of P1.4 million. Between 2016 and 2017, his net worth saw a modest rise of only four percent. The highest increase in his net worth was in 2008 at P5.6 million; in 2001, there was no movement in his net worth at all compared to the previous year," it added.
Panelo, however, said the PCIJ report was "nothing new."
He added that Duterte's SALNs merely reflects the President's honesty to declare his true net worth.
"Public documents on the matter, including their Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth, are public records and open for public scrutiny. The President, being a lawyer, would not prepare or even sign a document which contains falsehoods or omits matters that require to be so indicated," he said.
"These documents would speak for themselves and ultimately, it is the Filipino electorate who would be the judge on who to believe in this regard," Panelo added. (SunStar Philippines)