Did our beloved Cong. Mikey Arroyo violate US laws over his beach house property?

By Raïssa Robles

Two years ago when I first wrote about Cong. Mikey Arroyo’s magical millions, I received an e-mail from an American who said he was in the auditing profession.

He was so aghast over what Mikey Arroyo did and said that he got in touch with fellow reporter Ellen Tordesilla, who called him “Jay.”

Perhaps Jay would be willing to come out now and I would gladly post his name. He wondered how our kababayan (countryman) Mikey was able to qualify for and obtain a mortgage in California.

I asked his permission then to publish what he wrote me. But I did not post it yet online. I felt it was not the time, what with Mikey’s mom still lording it in the Palace by the stinking river.

With the recent surprise move by the Philippine tax chief Kim Henares to charge the young upwardly mobile couple with tax evasion, I thought it was the time to post Jay’s concerns.

Jay wondered if the engaging couple violated American laws when they made “pasa-pasa” (transfer-transfer)magic-magic their Foster property.

Is the most recent pasa-pasa of that same beach house part of this? That maybe on paper someone else now owns it, but in reality the congressman still does? Mikey Arroyo vehemently denies this.

Here is what Jay wrote to me then after Mikey’s Millions first broke out in the news:

Ms. Robles,

I was directed to your blog from Ellen Tordesillas’ Facebook page and I’m very impressed. I’m looking forward to reading more of your entries. I’m an American in in the San Francisco Bay Area who follows politics and news in the Philippines. There are a couple things you may want to look into.

First, someone should get ahold of Mikey Arroyo’s IndyMac loan documents. To qualify for mortgages in the amount they have on these properties, they would have to certify an income of $300,000 or more a year. $250,000 at the very least. His congressional salary would not even cover the property taxes due on that house of $14,000 a year.

Most likely, they have a “Stated Income” or so-called “liar loan”. By the way, these loans were a big reason for the economic crisis and real estate collapse in the US. In fact, IndyMac’s lending practices caused them to be one of the first big US banks to fail last year.

Potentially, they committed mortgage fraud, which is a crime here. Either he is lying about his income and filing false tax returns in the Philippines or he lied when signed the mortgage documents. Most likely, he is making payments through his cut of jueteng payoffs from Bong Pineda. Is he bringing cash to the US and laundering it?

A trail led to comedian-actress Rufa Mae Quinto

Jay also wrote some leads about comedian-actress Rufa Mae Quinto. While they’re quite juicy, they need to be followed up so that the paper trail doesn’t disappear. Ayayayay, Rufa. You are one of my favorite actresses. You’re so bubbly and engaging and funny. No wonder many fall all over you.

But back to more serious stuff.

How Mikey Arroyo made magic with his beach house

Mikey Arroyo claimed that the Foster beach house Property was really owned by Beachway LLC, not him. He only owned 40% of Beachway LLC, he claimed.

I asked Jay what he thought of this explanation.

Here’s what he said:

An LLC is a Limited Liablility Company. Sometimes businesses are set up as LLC’s or they are used to invest in real estate. Some more information may be found here:

By the way, those documents really are a “smoking gun”. I would love to see them plastered on the front page of the papers that aren’t pro-GMA (The Philippine Star, The Daily Inquirer, Malaya, and the Daily Tribune). I watched the GMA [TV]interview and Mikey Arroyo repeatedly said that he wasn’t the owner of the house and that he was simply a shareholder of Beach Park Way LLC, that is the real owner. This is why he said he did not need to disclose the house on his SALN. This is an outright lie that he repeated over and over. The official records show that Angela M. Arroyo is the owner of the property as a result of an inter-spousal transfer, meaning Mikey was the previous owner. If Beach Park Way LLC was really the owner, it would show on the title. It’s obvious he was trying to hide the property in his wife’s name. His public statements are complete lies and they can be refuted with the title documents you have on your blog. I’m surprised his handlers let him be interviewed about this, as he didn’t help his case at all.

Hmmm. I didn’t know the significance of  the term “interspousal transfer” on the property document until Jay pointed it out. Thanks, Jay. Here’s the document again:

 

And here is Mikey Arroyo’s side:

I watched the YouTube video just now. Initially, Mikey Arroyo said – “Nobody lives there” inside the beach house because it is for investment purpose only. Later, he modified that by saying –

Siyempre (of course) when I go on vacation I stay there. Siyempre just like the other shareholders.

Siyempre naman (of course).

Here’s Mikey Arroyo’s denial: