WORLD boxing champion and Senator Manny Pacquiao and Senator Cynthia Villar are the richest members of the Senate while Senator Antonio Trillanes is the poorest, according to their respective statements of assets, liabilities and net worth in 2016.
Pacquiao came in second to Villar, who remains the richest senator. Villar, wife of former Senate President Manny Villar, remains the wealthiest among the 24 senators.
Manny Villar, the former Senate leader, has also been named by Forbes magazine as among the wealthiest Filipinos.
Meanwhile, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales was richer by P2 million between 2015 and 2016.
Based on Morales’ SALN, her net worth had increased by at least P2 million from 2015 to 2016.
‘‘The increase was due to the additional P2.02 million from her cash investments,” the document said.
From P52.10 million in 2015, Morales’ net worth went up to P54.13 million in 2016.
The Villar family has been in the real estate business for decades. They are also engaged in retail. Cynthia Villar’s wealth had increased to P3.606 billion as of Dec. 31, 2016 from P3.5 billion in 2015.
Villar’s real estate properties are worth P4.6 million, including one in BF Resort Village in Las Piñas City whose acquisition cost was P2.9 million, the largest of her real properties assets.
She listed two items under “personal properties”: “investments in shares of stock” and “other real and personal properties,” in all making up 99.87 percent of her net worth.
Pacquiao, one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, has a net worth of P3.072 billion. He declared total assets of P3.422 billion but had liabilities worth P350,595,647.
The neophyte senator was named the richest congressman when he left the House of Representatives. He was elected Sarangani representative in 2013. He has a net worth of P3,268,200,088.00 for 2015, almost double the P1.688 billion he recorded in 2014.
Based on his latest SALN, the bulk of Pacquiao’s earnings came from his boxing fights and endorsements while his liabilities were due to “various loans.” His biggest assets in his SALN were “cash, jewelry and other personal properties.”
Pacquiao’s assets include 100 pieces of real estate with an aggregate value of P1.6 billion, mostly residential, commercial, and agricultural properties in General Santos and Digos cities, and in different municipalities in Sarangani province. His most expensive property is in Lagao, General Santos City, which was acquired in 2015 for P400 million.
The other properties of the boxer-turned-politician are a house and lot at Hancock Park, Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, USA, worth P115 million and a commercial property on Mercado Street, Dadiangas Heights, General Santos City worth P121 million.
In 2016, Pacquiao acquired two lots at Labangal and Lagao, General Santos City. Thirty-four of his real properties do not have a year of acquisition indicated in the SALN.
He also declared P1.3 billion cash on-hand and in-bank, jewelry and other personal properties. He also registered P250.2 million in liabilities from different banks.
The third richest senator was Ralph Recto, husband of former actress and now Batangas Rep. Vilma Santos. He declared a net worth of P522,610,452.59.
The bulk of his assets comes from personal properties, specifically his “cash in bank and financial institution,” which is worth P295.9 million, and “investments in stocks” worth P143.1 million. He also declared four real properties in Metro Manila and Lipa City”•all residential and worth a total of P73.8 million.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was the poorest with P6,506,672.13, replacing Senator Francis Escudero who held the distinction in 2015.
Trillanes, the staunchest critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, has total assets of P16.012 million and total liabilities of P9.506 million. His net worth in 2016 was higher by more than half-a-million pesos from his P5.9 million net worth in 2015.
In his 2016 SALN, Trillanes declared assets amounting to P8,915,800″•a combination of lot, cash in band and in bank, jewelries, investments and a vehicle. He registered his liabilities amounting to P9,506,127.87, resulting to just over P6.5-million net worth.
Escudero, a lawyer and son of former Agriculture secretary and Rep. Sonny Escudero, was the second poorest with P6.602 million net worth last year, still higher than his P5.8 million net worth in 2015. He had no liabilities in 2016.
Based on his 2015 SALN, Escudero became the poorest when his net worth dropped from P6. 049 million in 2014 to P5.847 million last year with no liabilities
His SALN declaration for that year did not include the assets and liabilities of his wife, actress Heart Evangelista whose family owns a chain of restaurants.
The third poorest senator was neophyte Senator Leila de Lima who declared P6.617 million in assets.
The senator, detained at the PNP Custodial Center over drug charges, has total assets of P9.8 million and liabilities of P3.182 millon.
Landing on the fourth and fifth spot as the richest senators were Senator Sonny Angara with a net worth of P123,949,722 and Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri with a net worth of P121,768,713.77. Both come from prominent political clans.
Angara is the son of former Senate President Ed Angara, one of the founders of the ACCRA law firm, the most influential in the 1970s and 1980s.
The wealth of Zubiri, son of sugar haciendero and former Bukidnon Rep. Joe Zubiri, came from his shares in Bukidnon Power Corp. He also owns five agricultural properties of which three are located in Bukidnon and the other two in Calatagan, Batangas.
After Zubiri was Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, son of “Plastics King” William Gatchalia, with a worth of P92,141,701.14.
Gatchalian was followed by Senator Grace Poe with P88,480,811.91 in net worth.
The wealth of Poe, daughter of the late King of Philippine movies Fernando Poe Jr. and veteran actress Susan Roces, was reduced by half a million pesos after she ran in the May 2016 presidential election.
From P89 million in 2015, Poe’s net worth declined to P88,480,811.91 last year.
She declared total assets of P124.349 million in 2016 but she also had total liabilities of P35.865 million, including a loan from her mother, amounting to P17.760 million.
Next to Poe were Senator Franklin Drilon: P82,482,955; Senator JV Ejercito: P79,130,483.36; Senator Richard Gordon: P66,928,851.46; Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III: P63,800,450; Senator Nancy Binay: P60,483,437; Senator Loren Legarda: P40,911,192.90; Senator Panfilo Lacson: P38,703,615; Senator Bam Aquino: P33,860,702; Senator Alan Peter Cayetano: P24,132,490; Senator Joel Villanueva: P21,519,770; Senator Gregorio Honasan: P21,279,749.74; Senator Aquilino Pimentel III: P17,734,400; Senator Risa Hontiveros: P16,332,952.70, and Senator Francis Pangilinan: P9,288,108.84. With Rio N. Araja