Nograles: PCIJ report malicious

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Prospero Nograles yesterday took offense at what he described as a “malicious” Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) article that said his fortune rose from P6.5 million to P88 million in the 14 years he had been in public office.

The outgoing House leader is mulling the filing of charges against veteran journalist Malou Mangahas, PCIJ director, who wrote the article portraying him to have enriched himself while in government.

“We are also studying all legal angles because the articles coming out are now bordering on the malicious and we will also have to take the proper remedies available to us at the proper time,” Nograles said.

He said he “expected a terrible fallout with the non-passage of the Freedom of Information bill, but not in so malicious a manner as the PCIJ article.”

PCIJ had been lobbying for the measure’s ratification, which the House failed to do last week due to lack of quorum. 

“I am now the only culprit solely responsible for the non-passage of the FOI bill and Malou is training her wrath on me personally,” the Speaker said, adding that many of the 181 lawmakers who helped pass the bill were also absent last June 4.

“I respect her (Mangahas’) belief. I expect she will also learn to ask why the more vocal proponents of the bill could not help us campaign and produce the warm bodies on the floor for a quorum,” Nograles said.

Nevertheless, he said he has nothing to hide, and the details of his assets can be found in the statement of assets and liabilities and net worth (SALN) he filed, of which Mangahas herself obtained a copy, even if she did not bother to ask him how he made his fortune.

“Anyway, my SALN is public record and Mangahas was able to get a copy of it. Had she asked, I would have explained (it to her), but she published her own malicious interpretations of my financial records,” he said.

Nograles said his “properties and family investments, and that of my parents, are publicly known in the entire Davao.”

“When both my parents and my parents-in-law died within 14 years, they left very substantial income-producing properties for us. Our family was blessed ever since I was born,” he said.

“As a lawyer, I will explain and answer any question about my SALN in the proper forum. I don’t think this is an issue that should be debated back and forth in the media,” he added.

The PCIJ disclosed that since Nograles became congressman in 1995, his net worth of P6.5 million jumped to P88.3 million in 2008, or a 1,258-percent increase in a span of almost 14 years.

Nograles became Speaker in February 2008 when his predecessor Jose de Venecia Jr. was ousted.

“This growth rate in Nograles’ wealth comes up to 89.89 percent per year on average, or nearly 10 times the average annual growth of the national economy during the same period,” a portion of the PCIJ article read.