ALREADY the wealthiest among the 24 senators, Senator Cynthia Villar, wife of former Senate President Manny Villar, got richer by over a billion pesos last year while Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero became the poorest, according to their 2015 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.
Villar, who was elected senator in 2013, remains the only billionaire in the Upper Chamber. She was also the richest lawmaker during her term in the House of Representatives.
Based on her 2015 SALN, the senator has a net worth of P3.5 billion pesos in 2015 from P1.983 billion net worth in 2014. She had no liabilities stated in her SALN as of December 31, 2015.
Under her assets in the 2015 SALN are “real properties” amounting to P4,588,619, shares of stocks amounting to P2,249,716,143 and other real and personal properties amounting to P1,246,260,718, or a total of P3,500,565,480.00.
The Villar family is involved in real estate. Among their listed firms are Starmalls Inc. and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., the country’s largest homebuilder, which is into horizontal, condominium, office space, and retail space development. It also operates the Swiss-inspired Crosswinds hotel in Tagaytay.
The former Senate president belonged to the Filipino billionaires in Forbes’ 2015 List of Richest Persons in the World.
At the other end of the wealth spectrum was Escudero who dislodged Senator Antonio Trillanes IV as the poorest senator based on his 2014 SALN.
Escudero got poorer by hundreds of thousands of pesos as his net worth declined from P6.049 million in 2014 to P5.847 million last year with no liabilities.
His SALN declaration did not include the assets and liabilities of his wife, actress Heart Evangelista. There were attached documents detailing the assets and liabilities of Evangelista.
Trillanes IV, who was the poorest in 2014 with P5.549 million net worth, got richer by more than P400,000 when his net worth increased to P5.984 million last year, or a 7.2-percent increase.
A far second from Villar is Senator Ralph Recto, who got a fresh mandate in the Senate in the last election. Recto has a net worth of P531 million followed by Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. with P211 million.
Occupying the fourth, fifth and sixth are Senators Jinggoy Estrada, P193,162,258.78; Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., P173,394,137.77 and Senator Juan Ponce Enrile: P122,118,754.00.
The three stand trial for plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan as they were accused of getting huge kickbacks from their own pork barrel which they alleged channeled to the fake non-government organizations put up by scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles.
Estrada and Revilla have been detained at the PNP Custodian Center in Camp Crame while Enrile is out on bail.
Senator Sonny Angara was the seventh richest with P118,268,372.00 net worth, followed by Senator Teofisto Guingona III with P103,886,695.00 and Senator Sergio Osmena III with P90,525,000.00. Both Guingona and Osmeña failed to get reelected.
Senator Grace Poe, who lost in the just-concluded presidential race, had a net worth of P89,118,760.00 , a slight drop from the P89.46 million she declared in 2014.
Poe’s SALN showed that as of Dec. 31, 2015, she owned a total of 30 real properties, including 14 pieces of mostly residential real properties she bought from 1992 to 2010 with aggregate acquisition cost of P95,002,568.81.
The 14 real properties consisted of two house and lots in California, USA “• the first valued at P27,995,500 that Poe said she purchased in 1992, and the second valued at P15,074,500 that Poe said she purchased in 2008.
She said all these real properties were inherited in 2004 from her father Fernando Poe Jr.
Aside from real assets, Poe declared “personal and other properties” worth P30,656,423.16 in all, as of last yearend.
The other senators’ wealth based on their 2015 yearend SALN are as follows:
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, P 85,909,512.00; Senator Franklin Drilon, P79,016,838.00; Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito, P78,675,444.48; Senator Pia Cayetano, P73,322,136.23; Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, P66,800,280.00; Senator Nancy Binay, P61,360,864.00; Senator Lito Lapid, P43,150,000.00; Senator Loren Legarda, P40,545,259.42; Senator Bam Aquino, P28,751,800.59; Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, P23,564,540.00; Senator Gringo Honasan, P20,944,738.00 and Senator Aqulino “Koko” Pimentel III, P17,920,025.00.