Here is something that people, especially the so-called investigative writers of the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), should realise: “Assets” do not only mean money or material things.
There are “Biological Assets” which are assessed and given value and included in a taxpayer’s declaration of Assets and Liabilities.
The PCIJ, the self-styled “Sherlock Holmes” of Philippine journalism, did a sloppy investigative work and displayed its lack of understanding of agriculture when it insinuated that I had “unexplained wealth” because of a P21.9-M increase in my net worth during the period I was out of government.
The report by veteran journalist Malou Mangahas described as “fantastic” the P21.9-M increase in my net worth in seven years from 2009 to 2016, before I joined government again.
“Across a seven-year period, a fantastic P21,956,632.23-increase was recorded in the net worth of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, or from P3,643,000 in the SALN he filed as of Dec. 31, 2009, to P25,599,632.23 in his latest SALN as of Dec. 31, 2016,” the Mangahas report said.
“Both Piñol and (Silvestre) Bello are allies of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Both skipped public service for some years, hence PCIJ has no SALN copies for them in the intervening years,” the report concluded.
Any way you read the statements, one would conclude that there was malice in the way it was written and presented.
The word “fantastic” and the reference to Bello and I as “allies of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo” are like sore thumbs that stick out in what should have been an objective, even terse and facts-based “investigative report.”
Had I not known Malou Mangahas, a former colleague who was editor of the Philippine Collegian, as an upright journalist who I consider a friend, I would have suspected that she was paid to do a demolition job.
As it is, I will attribute these inaccuracies in her report to poor research and sloppy investigative work.
Here are the reasons why:
1. It is not true that I had no Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth filed prior to December 2016. Just like the other new appointees to government, I was required to submit a SALN on June 30, 2016 upon my assumption to office.
Had she researched on this, she would have found out that the difference between my June 2016 SALN and the December 2016 SALN which was filed in April 2017 was a little over P960,000 increase in net worth.
I do not know if it was intentional on the part of Mangahas but I saw in her report that she referred to the June 30, 2016 SALN of other Cabinet members.
Did she even bother to look for mine?
2. Mangahas referred to me as an ally of President Arroyo, not realising that, while I had no personal quarrel with the former President, I was actually kicked out of the Lakas political party prior to the 2010 elections when I tried to regain my previous position as Governor but lost.
I stood up against the Arroyo-supported Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), the precursor of the BBL now, which in October 2008 was declared Unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a landmark decision penned by then Justice and now Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.
3. The bigger issue that I would like to point out as a proof of the sloppy work, maybe even ignorance of agriculture, was her description of the increase in my net worth of P21.9-M as “fantastic!”
Granting that I earned that much money during the time I was out of government, I know of no law prohibiting private individuals from earning money for as long as this is declared in the Income Tax Return (ITR) which is required by government.
The truth is I did not earn P21.9-M in cash or acquired properties of that value during the years I was out of government. I lost two elections and struggled to make a living to support my children, two of whom were in medical school.
The Mangahas report did not even bother to check what it was that increased my personal net worth from only P3.643-M in 2009 (P16.993-M in assets minus P13.350-M in liabilities) to P21.9-M declared in the December 2016 SALN.
Had she been more diligent, she would have seen in my SALN that the “fantastic” increase in my personal net worth was because of declared “Biological Assets” valued at P16.384-M.
“Biological assets” are breeding and clonal materials for both poultry and high value crops.
This is where Mangahas showed her lack of understanding of agriculture and its peculiarities.
This is where it is evident that for some people, “assets” could only mean money and material things.
The increase in my net worth was not because of accumulated money or material things but “Biologial Assets” I discovered and developed as a practicing farmer.
I am a farmer and during the time I was out of government, I operated a high value crops nursery and I had clonal gardens.
Through hard work, I was able to develop clonal materials for high value crops like rubber and fruits.
I am also a poultry breeder and I was able to develop my own breed of free-ranged organic chicken which is registered with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and carries a registered trademark of “Manok Pinoy.”
The clonal materials for high value crops and parental breeding materials of “Manok Pinoy” are called “biological assets” and assessed with a very high value.
I also breed game fowls, goats and even rare chicken breeds and all breeding materials are assessed as “Biological Assets.”
In June 2016, I declared my “Biological Assets” and these were valued at P16.3-M increasing to P17.086-M by December 2016.
All of these were valued and declared in my ITR before I joined government on June 30, 2016 and corresponding taxes were paid.
I had to declare my “Biological Assets” because these were used as a basis to convince the bank to grant me a loan so I could produce more Manok Pinoy breeders and seedlings of high value crops while out of government.
“Fantastic?”
Yes, indeed, the ignorance is fantastic.
(Images of the SALN I filed in June 2016 and December 2016 showed an increase in my net worth of P960,00. Other images show some of the “biological assets” I have developed in my farm which were assessed, valued and declared as part of my personal assets. These include the Manok Pinoy parental stocks and prolific Series 2000 rubber clones.)
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