Bro. Mike's rep is richest party-list lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines – A female neophyte lawmaker from the Buhay party-list group of Bro. Mike Velarde’s El Shaddai is the richest sectoral representative at the House of Representatives.

Thirty-six-year-old Buhay Rep. Ma. Carissa Coscolluela declared P124.1 million in net worth with “no liabilities” in the statement of assets and liabilities she filed as of Dec. 2008.

Agap Rep. Nicanor Briones, a 49-year-old accountant, came in a far second with a P43.5 million net worth. The neophyte legislator declared P77.1 million in assets and P33.5 million in liabilities. 

Close third was another neophyte, 36-year-old Rep. Carol Lopez of the relatively new sectoral group Yacap. She has P39.8 million in assets and has only P3.2 million liabilities.

Next in line is another Buhay congressman, Rep. Rene Velarde, son of evangelist Bro. Mike. The 42-year-old businessman revealed he is worth P32.1 million, with P1.9 million liabilities. In 2006, he topped the list of richest party-list congressmen with P31.6 million in assets.

Buhay’s third nominee, neophyte Rep. Irwin Tieng, ranked sixth in the current Top 10 list. The 28-year-old lawmaker-son of the owner of Solar Sports declared that he is worth P17.3 million, with P1.3 million liabilities.

Fifth is another son of a leader of a religious group. Rep. Joel Villanueva of the Citizens Battle Against Corruption (Cibac) said he is worth P18.4 million, with P13.4 million liabilities. The 33-year-old lawmaker is the son of Bro. Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord movement.

Seventh is the second Cibac nominee, 42-year-old lawyer Rep. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales, who is worth P16 million, with P3.8 million liabilities.

Eighth is Rep. Edgar Valdez of Apec, P14.5 million with no liabilities. Ninth is Abono Rep. Robert Raymund Estrella with P14 million and last is another Apec congressman, Ernesto Pablo, who has a net worth of P12.8 million.

The sons or representatives of religious groups have made it to the Top 10 list of richest party-list congressmen, notably the three congressmen of Velarde’s Buhay (Coscolluela, Velarde and Tieng) and the two lawmakers of Villanueva’s Cibac (Villanueva and Gonzales).

Millionaires’ row

Except for the 32 new lawmakers, only four out of the 238 members of the House are non-millionaires. The rest are multi-millionaires, with the exception of Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar, who has since joined the Billionaires Club.

Of the four non-millionaires, only 30-year-old Bohol Rep. Adam Relson Jala – a neophyte and a new lawyer – is the only administration lawmaker.

The other non-millionaires are Bayan Muna’s Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño and Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis.

All four were at the bottom of the list, with Ocampo ranked 235th with P895,145 assets with no liabilities, followed by Jala with P782,000 with no liabilities, Casiño with P118,900 and Mariano, who was last, with only P55,501 assets and no liabilities.

Even militant lawmakers from the opposition bloc have also made it to the millionaires row, notably Gabriela party-list Reps. Liza Maza (P1.5 million) and Luzviminda Ilagan (P4.6 million) and Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros (P6.2 million).