This concerns the news stories the Inquirer published on May 18 and 19, 2013, relating to the supposed increase in my statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for year 2012. I wish to reiterate that there was no significant increase in my SALN for 2011 and 2012 as there were no new real properties or assets acquired for the year 2012.
Inquirer reporter Michael Lim Ubac could have misinterpreted my 2012 SALN and erroneously concluded that I had a 94-percent increase in my net worth.
Unlike the old SALN form, the new SALN form puts all real property and improvements under one column of assets and total net worth; thus, it appeared that my net worth for year 2012 increased. The real property improvements, which I also declared and truly disclosed in 2010 and 2011, were the same and simply added to the total assets for the year 2012.
A close review of my 2012 SALN would show that I made the necessary footnote to explain the apparent increase in net worth and to avoid misinterpretations.
Furthermore, I did not submit three SALN forms as the stories noted. This is simply not
allowed. What I submitted was a five-page SALN. The figures mentioned in the report were subtotals and attachments indicated in each page of my SALN.
I have been religiously filing my SALNs in all my years as a public servant. All my sworn SALNs were truthful, complete and with full details of all my assets and liabilities as required by law.
—FRANCIS N. TOLENTINO,
chair, Metropolitan Manila
Development Authority
Thank you for the clarification. The news stories were based on the actual figures indicated in the 2012 SALNs of Cabinet members, which Malacañang provided the Malacañang Press Corps. These included that of MMDA Chair Tolentino.
Curiously, Malacañang provided the media with only three of the chair’s five-page SALN. None of the three pages have links to any annexes. The chair’s photocopied SALN neither has any footnote explaining the apparent increase in his net worth. But all three pages bear different values for total assets, liabilities and net worth.
There was no pagination, too. After the first page (which contains the date stamp, and employment and the chair’s other family details), the two other pages did not clearly indicate which one was an amendment or the continuation of the other.
The Inquirer desk contacted him for comment as soon as the story came out.
—MICHAEL LIM UBAC,
reporter, Inquirer