Richest, poorest congressmen in Western Visayas bared

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

Who are the wealthiest and poorest solons in Western Visayas?

Of the 18 congressmen of the 16^th Congress from the provinces of Antique, Capiz, Aklan, Iloilo, Guimaras and Negros Occidental,  five of them had more than P100 million in net worth  as shown in the summary report of Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) they filed for 2013.

             PHOTO CREDIT:   Pecto Camero, Media Relations Service-PRIB

Negros Occidental 3rd District Representative Alfredo Benitez remains the wealthiest solon with P713,875,030.00 from    P702,065,517.00 networth in 2012. 

Julio Ledesma IV of Negros Occidental 1st District is the second wealthiest with a networth of P617,325,558.46 followed by Oscar Garin, Jr.  of Iloilo 1st District in third with P 136,668,622.00; Teodorico Haresco, Jr. of Aklan, Lone District in fourth with P 113,378,852.00 and Hernan Biron Jr. of Iloilo 4th District with P113,237,500.00 to complete the top five wealthiest solons in the region.

In 2012 SALN, Ledesma declared a networth of  P590,557,605.26 while Haresco had P104,778,020.30.

The ‘poorest’ solons are Paolo Everardo Javier of Antique Lone District with a networth of P 4.040-million from P 3.110-million of the previous year. 

Javier, who reported with no liabilities, was followed by Mercedes Alvarez of Negros Occidental 6th District with P 6.212-million and Joaquin Carlos  Rahman Nava of  Guimaras Lone District  with P7.699-million; Evelio Leonardia Bacolod, Lone District, P10.955-million and Leo Rafael Cueva  of Negros Occidental 2nd District with P10.660-million in the bottom five. 

Other congressmen from Western Visayas also revealed their net worth last year. Jeffrey Ferrer of Negros Occidental 4th District,      P68.514-million; Niel Tupas, Jr. of Iloilo 5th District, P54.7-million; Fredenil Castro of Capiz 2nd District, P37.474-million and Antonio del Rosario of Capiz 1st District P 23.939-million.

Jerry Trenas  of Iloilo City Lone District with a networth of P21.307-million; Arcadio Gorriceta of Iloilo 2nd District, P19.334-million; Arthur Defensor, Jr. of Iloilo 3rd District, P15.256-million and Alejandro Mirasol of Negros Occidental 5th District, P12.142-million.