Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday, June 13, explained that the increase in her net worth in 2020 was due to the assets she inherited from her late mother.
During her weekly radio show with radio man Ely Saludar, the vice president noted that since all her siblings are abroad, she’s the executor of her mother’s estate. She handles and manages the assets that are yet to be transferred to her siblings’ names.
Robredo’s mother, Salvacion Gerona, died in February last year, shortly before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Her two siblings were not able to come home to take care of the inheritance, leaving the vice president to handle the matter.
READ: Robredo’s mother Sally Gerona passes away at 83
The lady official’s net worth reportedly increased to P11.9 million in 2020 based on her latest Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN). This was the third and biggest increase in her wealth since she became vice president in 2016.
The amount was P8.4 million greater than her net worth in 2019, which was at P3.5 million.
“So ako, iyong nag-aasikaso dito noong lahat nang naiwan na properties. Nireport ko lang, Ka Ely, sa SALN iyong nasa akin. Nireport ko iyong nasa akin pero wala pa kaming extrajudicial settlement kasi ang dami pang inaayos (So, I am the one managing all the properties left here. I just reported, Ka Ely, on my SALN all those with me. I reported those with me but we don’t have extrajudicial settlement yet because there’s a lot to fix),” she explained.
That is not yet final, however, because Robredo said she is not sure yet of how they are going to divide their shares.
READ: VP Robredo’s net worth rises to P3.5 M in 2019
An extrajudicial settlement is an out-of-court process that will divide the assets of the deceased among the heirs. It usually takes years before this can be done.
“Ako naman lahat nang dumadaan sa akin nirereport ko,” she said. “Very transparent ako (I’m very transparent).”
The vice president also cited her family just recently fixed the assets of her late husband, former Naga mayor and Interior secretary Jesse Robredo, who died in August 2012.
She cited as an example the shares of stock in Meralco that keeps on appearing on her SALN because it was declared in her husband’s own SALN.
Robredo said she and her siblings have yet to finalize the division of the assets left by their mother because they are still discovering properties that are not on the original list.
In her SALN for 2020, the lady official listed these assets as “subject to final settlement.”
“So, hindi ko alam kung magbabawas iyon. Hindi ko din alam kung dagdag kasi hindi namin lahat naaayos (So, I do not know if that will decrease. I also do not know if that will increase because we haven’t finalized everything),” she said.