LUBAO, PAMPANGA??Bale ng Gloria? (House of Gloria).

A one-story house secured by a tall wooden gate at the side of the centuries-old San Agustin Church in Barangay San Nicolas 1 here has taken on that name as residents attribute its ownership to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

With about 400 square meters in floor space, the house was built late last year or a few months before Ms Arroyo began her frequent visits to the province?s second district where she was rumored to run for a seat in Congress in the 2010 elections.

?Wa, yang bale ng Gloria (Yes, that?s the house of Gloria),? said the owner of a snack stall near the house. ?Simple ya mu (It?s simple only),? he added.

The guard of the house replied ?yes? when asked if the place was really the residence of Ms Arroyo.

But the guard denied this Inquirer correspondent even a peek into the house.

A government official, who was received at the house on one occasion, said the house was made of wood, stones and concrete, ?and with an antique feel to it.?

He could not describe the interior, as activities there with Ms Arroyo had been confined in the lanai behind the main bungalow.

Sold to Mikey?

What is also known in the neighborhood is that a nephew of the owner, Leonora ?Anong? Tiongco, sold the land to the President?s eldest son, Rep. Juan Miguel ?Mikey? Arroyo, the incumbent representative of the second district.

The young Arroyo has also a house in Barangay San Roque Arbol, 4 kilometers from the town proper.

It was also Representative Arroyo who ordered the demolition of the wooden house in Barangay San Nicolas 1 last year, another neighbor said.

While these were what the neighbors knew about the house, the President?s elder sister, former Pampanga Vice Gov. Cielo Macapagal-Salgado, confirmed that Ms Arroyo bought the Tiongco land. She said she was not surprised by this move.

Tiongco is a cousin of Ms Arroyo?s late father, President Diosdado Macapagal, a native of Lubao.

Staying with relatives

Homeless since the ancestral house, which was made of nipa (thatched leaves), was worn out by time, Macapagal was contended to stay in his relatives? homes?one of them Tiongco?s?when he occasionally went home as he served as congressman, vice president and president.

Tiongco, a spinster and retired public school teacher, also took care of Macapagal?s children?Cielo, Arthur, Gloria and Diosdado Jr.?whenever they came for visits.

?Perhaps, for sentimental reasons or what,? Cielo said. ?I don?t know why they built that house.?

While the neighbors believe the house is owned by Ms Arroyo and saw her playing host to some gatherings there, her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) from 1991 to 2008 did not show that she owned a property anywhere in Pampanga, much less in Lubao.

?This must be the Lubao house under Eva Development Corp., the sale of which was [made] in August this year, hence not included in [her] 2008 SALN,? a Palace source said.

However, the media advisory of Malacañang?s Public Information Agency for the President?s Oct. 13 visit to Lubao said that one of the staff members was assigned to the ?Arroyo residence in Barangay San Nicolas 1st.?

?She sleeps there?

Reached by phone to confirm Ms Arroyo?s ownership of the house, her spokesperson, Lorelei Fajardo, said: ?I don?t know if the house and lot are under the President?s name. I can?t confirm that. Ang alam ko (what I know) is that if she?s in Lubao, she sleeps there. Once, she slept there in one of her visits.?

A source in the Lubao municipal government said the Arroyo family bought the house from Tiongco?s nephew, but the title of the property has not been transferred yet under Ms Arroyo?s name. The provincial Registry of Deeds said it had not received a copy of a transfer title yet.

The Palace source said the extrajudicial settlement with absolute sale of the land where the house stands was published only last Oct. 14, 21 and 28, which would pave the way for the issuance of the title.

The start of construction was not known as the source refused to show documents from the municipal engineer?s office. Without those documents, the cost of construction cannot be at least estimated. No one can take a peep from the outside because the concrete fence is high and bamboo poles on top of the fence further hide the house.

Some engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) were seen supervising the construction, but the agency?s regional director, Alfredo Tolentino, said those reports were ?not true.?

Registered voter

When the Philippine Daily Inquirer checked with the Commission on Elections, it was told that it was not necessary for Ms Arroyo to own, build or rent another house for herself in Lubao or in any of the five other towns in the second district.

That?s because her residency in Lubao has been established by her being a registered voter in her father?s hometown.

She has been voting in Lubao since she was a senator, according to Comelec provincial supervisor Temie Lambino.

Ms Arroyo?s election lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said he was not aware of the new house.

Asked if her being a registered voter confirmed her residency, Macalintal answered: ?Yes, I believe she is a resident of her district under the doctrine of residence by origin.?

In Ms Arroyo?s registration file, she listed her address as De Guzman Street, Purok 3, San Nicolas 1. However, there is no De Guzman Street in the village. There is a De Guzman land, though.

Squatter parents

The parents of the late President Diosdado Macapagal, Urbano and Romana, were squatters here. They lived in a small nipa hut, according to Macapagal-Salgado.

A local club, Hormigo de Hiero, bought the property from the De Guzman family and donated it to Macapagal after his presidency.

In 1990, the Department of Education built a replica of the Macapagals? nipa hut there as a start-up to a museum of the late President, hailed as the ?Poor Boy from Lubao.?

Stays in farm

Macapagal never bought or built a house and lot for himself. Before 1992, he allowed his daughter Cielo to build a one-room house behind the reconstructed nipa hut. It served as her office and sleeping quarters while she was vice governor.

It was not in Cielo?s house on the former De Guzman property that Ms Arroyo stayed whenever she was around. She chose to stay instead at a farm in San Isidro, also in Lubao. That farm is owned by Fe Barin, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and her husband, Alejandro, a lawyer and friend of the Macapagals.

Asked what might be the purpose of the house if it truly was Ms Arroyo?s, Fajardo said: ?Like anybody who is retiring, they prefer their hometown or home province to be with relatives and kababata (childhood friends).?

Pressed if Ms Arroyo is retiring from politics when her term ends in June 2010, Fajardo said, ?I don?t want to comment anymore. I wish I can answer you.?

Macalintal said he had not talked with Ms Arroyo about her political plans.

The President has visited her district 42 times since February this year. Her frequent trips, some of which were held three straight days in October, have fueled reports that she will be running for representative of the district now held by her son, Mikey.