AGENCIES

CATANDUANES (PHILIPPINES) PHILIPPINE President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday admitted his net worth last year increased as a result of him finally getting his inheritance from his late parents, including sole ownership of the family home in Times Street in Quezon City.

But Aquino said he could not remember the exact amount of his net worth which he filed last week in his Statement on Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN).

“There is an increase and the increase primarily is because of the inheritance that I got from both my father and my mother, which were finalised in 2011,” he said of his parents, Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr, and former president Corazon Aquino.

The Chief Executive said that the “major” inheritance he got was the Times residence of the Aquino family.

“My sisters have decided to bequeath their portions to me also. So whereas last year it’s like a portion, a share of one out of five, now its five-fifths or the entirety is my property and my responsibility,” Aquino told reporters.

President Aquino’s net worth for 2010 was P54.999 million, which was also an increase after he got his initial inheritance from Corazon Aquino, mainly a property in Antipolo City where he and his siblings received their shares.

The President was on a brief stop to inaugurate two hydroelectric power plants and the new radar tower station of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Aquino made the admission as the impeachment trial of his nemesis, Chief Justice Renato Corona, is set to resume on May 7
Corona has been accused of, among of others, falsifying his SALN.

It remains unclear whether the beleaguered chief justice will testify but he has since denied the allegations against him.

Aquino whose campaign promise was to follow the “straight” path in running the government has called on Corona to step down.

Meanwhile, all the 15 justices of the Supreme Court have submitted their SALN, high court Spokesman Jose Midas Marquez told reporters on Wednesday.

“The Chief Justice has filed his SALN. All the justices have submitted their SALNs. I called the Clerk of Court to check last April 30 and she said it is complete,” Marquez said.

Corona was the last to submit his SALN while the first justice to file his SALN was Associate Justice Martin Villarama who filed it months ahead of the April 30 deadline.

While Marquez said it is still the call of the justice if they will release their SALN, “they should be guided by the policy of the court.

“Individual justices who opt to disclose their own SALN, that’s their own decision and it’s up to the Court to require them to perhaps explain if they do so,” he told reporters.