The poorest in House of multimillionaires

Inside the House of billionaires and multimillionaires, the Kabataan Representative Sarah Elago is the poorest and is practically a pauper with a declared net worth of only P50, 000 for 2016.

The said amount is less than half of the salary of the lawmakers, who earns more than P100 per month.

In Elago’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), the youth activist leader from the Makabayan bloc reported P50, 000 in assets and zero liabilities.

For this, she is 140, 000 times poorer than the richest congressman – ports tycoon Michael Romero of 1-Pacman party-list group. Romero declared a staggering P7 billion total assets, this is according to a summary listing of SALN declarations released by the House of Representatives on its website.

The 27-year old Rep. said, “ “I’m single and renting a place. I don’t own a house,” explaining the state of her financial status.

She’s under the salary grade of 31 and receives salary of P108, 000 per month but according to her, most of the money goes to her group’s activities, including youth empowerment campaigns and free education work.

“Kabataan is not just a sectoral party-list, we’re also a national mass youth organization. [The] bulk of my income goes to support for various advocacy campaigns and use of such is collectively and democratically decided upon by our national executive council,” Elago said in an interview with Inquirer.

After Elago, the next poorest House member was Camarines Sur Representative Gabriel Bordado Jr. who declared a net worth of P179, 000 in his 2016 SALN.

Other party-list lawmakers that were considered poor in the House of Representatives are: abriela Rep. Arlene Brosas with a net worth of P501,000; Kalinga Rep. Abigail Ferriol-Pascual with P672,050; Coop Natcco Rep. Sabiniano Canama with P780,000, and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro with P904,000.

Meanwhile, the rest 294 lawmakers were millionaires.


Source: Inquirer