'No law violated in foundations'

MANILA, Philippines - The lawyers of President Arroyo and her family claimed yesterday that there is nothing wrong with their clients being involved in several foundations and non-government organizations and sought to clarify some “misimpressions” that a recent news report might have created about the First Family.

In a joint statement, lawyers Romulo Macalintal, representing the President, and Ruy Rondain, lawyer of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, said their clients did not violate any law or use any public funds in their involvement in some foundations and NGOs.

The lawyers issued the statement in response to a report made by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) regarding the “horde of foundations” being run by the First Couple and their relatives.

Macalintal and Rondain denounced the PCIJ report as an editorial or a statement of opinion disguised as a report.

The PCIJ said in a statement: “With all due respect, the PCIJ believes it knows journalism far better than the lawyers of the President and the First Gentleman.”

The lawyers cited several parts of the PCIJ report that they said created misimpressions about the charitable work of the First Couple.

They claimed that neither the President nor the First Gentleman were involved in the Lualhati Foundation, Kasangga-Gabay, Kagabay ni Glo and the Amigo Foundation as indicated in the PCIJ report.

As far as the Centrist Democrat International is concerned, the lawyers noted that former House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. established the group in 2005 and he listed President Arroyo, former President Fidel Ramos, then Speaker Rannaridh of Cambodia and other leaders of political parties as incorporators.

In all the foundations and NGOs the First Couple are involved with, the lawyers claimed that no funding, “pork,” loan or financial assistance of any kind or nature from the government were ever received.

“They have been funded solely from private donations,” the lawyers said.

With regard to the supposed deficiencies of the First Couple in complying with the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to file annual reports of the foundations and their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) as indicated by the PCIJ report, the lawyers explained that some of the foundations have become inactive and have failed to file reports at the SEC.

In the case of the SALN, the lawyers pointed out that non-profit organizations do not have to be reflected in the SALN.

“As repeatedly maintained by the President and the First Gentleman, these indeed do not have to be reported because they do not pertain to business or financial interests,” they said.

In all the foundations cited by the PCIJ report, the lawyers cited one in particular, the FG Foundation, which they noted “has alleviated the plight of less fortunate Filipinos.”

They noted that the projects undertaken by the FG Foundation as well as the beneficiaries were all posted in the website of the foundation as part of transparency.

“By its own admission, neither does the PCIJ possess any data or evidence of wrongdoing by the Arroyos, nor has it cited any specific law that may have been violated in the first place,” the lawyers noted.

“The President and the First Gentleman have always respected the right of citizens to publish opinions on legitimate issues. However, they continue to urge their critics to avoid malicious insinuations through unfair parallelisms with past public officials against whom competent evidence was presented, again as clearly stated in the editorial of the PCIJ,” the lawyers added.