MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Congressman Juan Miguel ‘Mikey’ Arroyo said there is nothing wrong with the sale last month of a US$1.1 million property in Foster City, California by a company in which he has a minority stake.

In response to a VERA Files story which revealed the sale of the property, Arroyo, who represents security guards and tricycle drivers in Congress, said the sale of the 5-bedroom beachfront house in California was part of the real estate firm’s business.

“The article referred to a sale made by Beachway Corporation, a company which I have personal stake, of a property in the US. What is wrong with that? The sale was made in an ordinary course of business as our company is engaged in the buying and selling of real estate properties. It is but perfectly normal that we sell properties, otherwise we go out of business,” the eldest son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said.

Arroyo said he already issued a statement in 2009 regarding the Foster City property. He said the property “is not personally owned by me but by a company which I have a minority stake.”

He added that it should not be linked to what he described as a “trumped-up tax evasion case filed against me.” (Click here for video.)

Arroyo said the VERA Files story “only confirms there is ongoing vilification campaign against me and my family. This is yet another attempt to make an issue when there is absolutely none.”

“It is very clear to me now that this latest article is nothing but part of a bigger campaign to malign me and my family in order to hide this administration’s lack of specific program to address the ever-worsening poverty and hunger, unemployment, rising prices of oil and basic commodities and the exodus of our OFWs affected by conflicts in the Middle East,” he added.

VERA Files: It’s factual

In response to Arroyo’s statement, VERA Files said their story is “a factual report of a real estate transaction involving a firm owned by someone being accused of tax evasion.”

“The reaction of Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, that ‘the sale was made in an ordinary course of business,’ merely confirms that the transaction took place,” VERA Files said on Monday.

According to VERA Files, the property “was transferred to Mary Grace Apolinario and Jerome Ngo who appear in the county’s database as ‘grantees’ or buyers. The buyers are owners of the popular restaurant chain ‘Gerry’s Grill’ who, sources said, are good friends of Mikey.”

VERA Files said its “sources in California also revealed that although Arroyo has claimed owning at most 40 percent of the company, and therefore was only part owner of the house, visitors to the Foster City property were left without a doubt as to its occupants’ identities.”

“These sources provided VERA Files a photo of the living room of the house at 1655 Beach Park Blvd. before it was sold. On a side table sat a picture of the young Arroyo couple, while on the wall above the couch hung a painting of former president Gloria Arroyo taking her oath of office on Jan. 20, 2001,” said VERA Files, group of investigative journalists.

“The house forms part of the evidence listed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which is accusing Arroyo and his wife Angela of amassing millions of pesos worth of real estate and other property for the years 2004 to 2009, but failing to pay their taxes,” VERA Files said. — with a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News