Lifestyle check on Gwen sought

A Capitol critic called for a closer look at the declared net worth of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia after her 2010 annual statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) was reported yesterday.

Businessman and Capitol critic Crisologo Saavedra said he would ask the Ombudsman-Visayas to conduct a lifestyle check on the governor, who declared a net worth of P102.1 million in her SALN as of Dec. 31, 2010.

“I don’t believe that that’s the only assets she owns now. It’s best that an investigation be made,” Saavedra said.

Garcia’s current net worth saw a P1.3 million increase in her 2010 declaration of P100.8 million from year-ago levels.

(Cebu Daily News mistakenly reported the increase as P3.1 million yesterday.)

The governor’s net worth went up a little over P10 million from the P92.4 million she declared in 2004, her first year as Cebu governor.

She said she has a 50 percent share in total assets of GGC Enterprises valued at P14.7 million and a 67 percent share in total assets of the GGC Group at P33.2 million.

Both companies are based in Ormoc City, Leyte province.

Her companies own, among others, a private port, an ice plant, a gasoline refilling station and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) office.

“(Garcia) has to show her businesses … when she started in 2004, she wasn’t wealthy,” Saavedra said.

He added that if the Ombudsman doesn’t conduct a lifestyle check, he will file a complaint before their office.

Saavedra, a consultant and close friend of the late Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr., had filed a few complaints against Garcia over allegations of overpriced construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in Mandaue City and the controversial purchase of the Balili beach property in Naga City which mostly under water. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol