by Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
from Philippine Daily Inquirer
BASCO, Batanes, Philippines—Liberal Party presidential candidate Senator Benigno Aquino III said that his rival, Senator Manuel Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista Party, should explain why he failed to declare the P5 billion windfall he earned from the early sale of his and his wife’s stake in the family’s property holding firm, Vista Land Inc.
In an interview with reporters, Aquino said: “Every government official is obliged to file truthfully his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth every year. Any asset that is unexplained is presumed to be ill-gotten.’’
Aquino was referring to Villar’s admission that he and his wife, Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar, had profited P5 billion from the sale of their personal stake in VLI which the legislator is reportedly now using to bankroll what is reputed to be the richest campaign in the country’s history.
Even if it was granted that he does not need to divest or that his presence in the Philippine Stock Exchange meeting was not illegal, Aquino said that Villar has to explain why he did not disclose his stock bonanza in 2007 and 2008 where his SALN has remained steady at roughly P1 billion for both him and his wife.
Aquino said that as the Senate President in 2007, Villar should have not gate-crashed a PSE meeting just to convince the board of directors to agree to relax the 180-day lock-up period on the sale of his VLI shares because his mere presence alone would cause undue pressure on the body, which was evaluating what was then mere administrative or ministerial issue.
great post as usual!