Presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo said Tuesday that a hefty portion of his wealth – with which he was able to acquire a residential house worth $1.32-million (roughly P63.7 million) in California – came from wedding gifts and campaign contributions.

“Alam ninyo kasi, unang-una kinasal tayo nu’n (kaya) medyo nagkaroon tayo ng maraming regalo. Tapos ‘pag kampanya e syempre kahit papano maraming tumutulong sa atin,” Arroyo said in a TV interview, downplaying his earnings which ballooned from the time he got married in June, 2002, and became Pampanga vice-governor from 2001 to 2004.

Arroyo has been a representative of his home province’s second district in Congress since 2004.

VERA Files, a group of investigative reporters, had earlier reported that President Arroyo’s eldestson has failed to declare in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) for the last two years a beachfront property in the San Francisco Bay Area, which he bought and then transferred to his wife, Angela, in 2006. It also noted the sudden increase in the lawmaker’s net worth from P5 million in 2002 to P99 million in 2008.

Representative Arroyo denied the allegations of VERA Files, saying he had “always been transparent” about his SALNs ever since he entered public office.

“I’m not hiding anything,” Arroyo said, as he explained that the California property belongs to a private company named Beach Way LLC of which he is a part owner.

He said he declared the company in his SALNs for the years 2007 and 2008. “I own about 20 to 30 percent to 40 – something like that.”

“First of all, insofar as I’m concerned and my lawyer is concerned, I believe many public officials do this also. We can put a property under a company’s name as long as we declare the company,” he explained.

But Arroyo refused to divulge in public his fellow shareholders in Beach Way LLC, saying his critics can check with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on its records.

“They’re private citizens. I’m not at liberty to disclose their names. It’s a corporation, so you can go and look for it there (Securities and Exchange Commission). I can’t say it here (on national television),” he said.

The lawmaker also challenged his critics to sue him regarding his alleged misdeclaration of wealth.