TO FACE SMUGGLING RAP
[PHOTO
- SENATOR LITO LAPID AND WIFE MARISSA]
MANILA, JANUARY 31, 2012 (INQUIRER) By Nimfa U. Rueda, Tonette
Orejas Inquirer Central Luzon - The wife of Sen. Lito Lapid returned to Las
Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 15 at the invitation of the Department of Homeland
Security in connection with the offense she committed in November 2011 of not
declaring the $50,000, she carried to the United States, her American lawyer
said on Saturday.
"[Marissa Tadeo Lapid] came at the invitation of the Homeland Security. She
was invited to deal with the issue," lawyer Eliot Krieger said in a telephone
interview Saturday.
Krieger told reporters that Marissa has denied smuggling money into the US
and that his firm would "vigorously" defend its client against the smuggling
charges.
"She will have her day in court," said Krieger, a former assistant US
attorney and graduate of Harvard Law School, who works with the Southern
California-based firm Jarvis, Krieger & Sullivan. Krieger, who also has a
PhD from Johns Hopkins University and handles family law and criminal matters,
is on the superlawyers.com list of top attorneys in Southern California.
Krieger's statement clarified reports that Marissa was unaware that she had
committed a federal violation and faced impending arrest for the offense she
committed in November. She was briefly held when she was caught carrying $50,000
last November but allowed to return to the Philippines for the Christmas
holidays without any charges being filed against her.
Marissa was arrested at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas as she
arrived from the Philippines on Jan. 15 for the November offense. She is now
free on bail.
According to Krieger, Marissa's return to the US this month meant she had
complied with the invitation.
Krieger described Marissa as doing well and staying home.
He said she had been ordered by the court to restrict her travels within
Clark County.
He confirmed that Marissa wore an ankle-monitoring bracelet equipped with a
GPS (global positioning system) to monitor her location.
In an interview with reporters in Los Angeles on Saturday, Krieger said the
US government has placed a lien on the Las Vegas property of Marissa to cover
her $500,000 bail.
The real estate website Blockshopper listed two Las Vegas properties under
the names of Marissa and her son, Maynard, 27, a US citizen. The properties are
in 7304 Bugler Swan Wy and on 2055 Buffalo Drive.
Facing smuggling charges
Marissa faces smuggling charges for failing to declare the $50,000 when she
entered the US last November.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said dollar smuggling is
punishable by a fine of $500,000 and a maximum 10-year imprisonment.
US federal laws require arriving passengers to declare any currency or
monetary instrument totaling $10,000 or more. Violators are fined $250,000 and
the money recovered from them are confiscated by the US government.
According to Krieger, Marissa returned to the US "on the invitation of the
Department of Homeland Security to deal with this issue."
He said Marissa was not aware that criminal charges had been filed against
her and that "she willingly came back to the US in response to the invitation."
A preliminary hearing has been set for Feb. 7, Krieger said.
A published report in the US quoted Marissa as saying that she was going to
use the money to buy a house.
But the senator said his wife meant to use the money for her medical
expenses, explaining that she had gone to the US to seek treatment for a bone
ailment.
He said the cash belonged to his wife, who he said had the means because she
owns and runs several businesses in Porac, their Pampanga hometown.
Lapid says wife Marissa is rich By
Inquirer Central Luzon, Tonette Orejas Philippine Daily Inquirer 2:07 am |
Friday, January 27th, 2012
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Senator Manuel "Lito" Lapid on Thursday said
that his wife, Marissa, who has been arrested in the United States for violating
American travel restrictions, had the means to carry $50,000 for her travels
abroad.
So, why didn't she declare it?
Foreign travelers are only allowed to bring $10,000 into the United States.
Marissa has been freed on bail in Las Vegas.
Lapid said his wife was carrying her own money, rejecting rumors she was
smuggling his money into a foreign country.
"She has many businesses," Lapid said when the Philippine Daily Inquirer
asked how Marissa obtained such a big amount of cash.
Lapid did not give details about his wife's businesses, saying it was up to
her to disclose information about her private affairs.
"She earns her own money. She's a business-minded woman," Lapid said.
Lawyer hired
Queried on the case, Raul Hernandez, spokesperson for the Department of
Foreign Affairs, said: "We are in the process of getting information from
authorities and persons concerned about the case in order to see what possible
assistance we could extend to Mrs. Lapid."
In a statement released in Manila last night, Lapid said his wife had already
hired a lawyer to represent her in a US court.
"This is an unfortunate event but my wife is ready to answer all issues about
this incident. She already has a lawyer to help her with the case," Lapid said
in Filipino.
"We are still waiting for the details of the case from her lawyer and we
would rather hear information about the case first before issuing further
reactions," he added.
Trading sand
In the Lapids' hometown of Porac, Marissa is known to own and operate Marissa
Hall, a multipurpose building that she rents out to the public.
Residents interviewed by the Inquirer said that Marissa and her family, who
belong to the Tadeo clan, were also engaged in hauling and trading sand in the
town.
The Lapid family is also reputed to own tracts of land in Porac. With reports
from Cathy C. Yamsuan and Tina Santos in Manila
Senator Lapid: $50,000 for my wife's illness like
Gloria Arroyo's By Tonette Orejas Inquirer Central Luzon
Just like Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
[PHOTO COURTESY OF PEP, PHILIPPINE ENTERTAINMENT PORTAL -
Marissa Lapid, wife of Senator Lito Lapid, was arrested at the Las Vegas
International Airport last January 15, following dollar-smuggling charges filed
against her last November 2011. Last year, Marissa was caught carrying into the
U.S. a bag and socks filled with a total of $50,000 in cash, when she had
declared that she only had $10,000 with her. Paul
Fabregas]
The $50,000 that Sen. Lito Lapid's wife tried to bring into the United States
last year was meant for medical treatment to cure her bone ailment, according to
the senator himself.
Lapid on Friday disclosed the purported state of her health in an effort to
contradict reports quoting her as saying that the $50,000 was intended to buy a
house.
Lapid said his wife Marissa was afflicted with the same ailment that had
debilitated former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but
that he did not know what it was called. Arroyo's degenerative bone disorder
required three surgeries in the neck and spine.
"[Marissa] had an operation for pain in her neck and spine. Her sickness is
the same as that of GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo). Last year in Baguio City, she
had a mild stroke. She was really seeking medical help," Lapid said, speaking in
Kapampangan.
The senator spoke with the Inquirer by phone as questions again swirled in
connection with his and his wife's wealth. He brushed these aside, saying that
his wife made her own money.
Marissa Lapid, 54, made 20 trips to the United States from 1993 to 2005.
Staying put
"We're not buying a house. That amount would not be enough. We did want to
buy one, but we want our children to pay their shares too," he said.
Lapid, a senator-judge in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato
Corona, said he was not taking a leave to be by his wife's side.
"First, there's a job to do, and then my US visa has expired," he said.
US authorities arrested Marissa when she arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada, on
Jan. 15.
According to the account supplied by the Lapid camp, she entered the United
States in November 2011 carrying $50,000, in violation of US travel regulations.
She was held but was released on bail, and managed to leave the country before a
US court could detain her to stand trial for the offense.
US laws allow foreigners to carry up to $10,000 in cash. Foreigners must
declare the money they are carrying beyond that amount, which Marissa failed to
do.
Based on Friday's currency exchange rates, Marissa had P2.1 million with her
when she was arrested.
'Just nervous'
Lapid said his wife was not aware that the case against her had prospered
until she flew back to Las Vegas on Jan. 15.
"I'm sad. She had no intention to lie to authorities. She was just nervous,"
he said.
Lapid said reports that he and his wife often traveled to Las Vegas to
socialize or gamble were "untrue."
"We stay with a friend, Edgar Balagtas, or with my mother [whenever we go to
the United States]," he said.
Lapid said he had not been able to speak with Marissa by phone for days now
because her American lawyer, Eliot Krieger, had told her not to take calls.
He said that they did talk on Jan. 15 and that she had mumbled, "Sorry Jo."
(Jo is their term of endearment.)
The senator also said he had asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to
extend assistance to his wife the way it did to Filipinos in distress overseas.
Various businesses
He said their youngest son, Maynard, 27 and an American citizen, had been
assisting his mother. (They have four children, including Mark Lapid, who served
as governor of Pampanga and now heads the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise
Zone Authority of the Department of Tourism.)
According to employees, Marissa Lapid owns and runs MTL Enterprises, which
includes Walmart Construction Supply, Maynards' Agri Farm Supply, Barstow
Minimart, Generics Pharmacy and Porac Ice Plant.
Except for the grocery, these businesses occupy a row of stalls in a
one-story building beside the district hospital in Barangay Babo Sacan in Porac.
When the Inquirer asked an employee who owned a Seaoil fuel station in
Barangay Sta. Cruz, he said: "It's by Sen," apparently referring to the senator.
Some 20 meters from the municipal hall is Marissa Hall, which the senator's
wife rents out for private or public functions.
The Porac Foundation Inc. (PFI) has sued Marissa for buying the
5,435-square-meter property from a couple who allegedly produced two fake titles
for it. Fr. Resty Lumanlan, PFI chair and founder, said the property was part of
donations to the foundation.
Another source said Marissa recently bought two lots in Porac from the David
and Cuyugan families worth P20 million.
The Porac treasurer declined the request for information on business permits
issued in the name of Marissa Lapid or her relatives.
Research conducted by the Inquirer in 2005 showed that of the family's 17
vehicles that year, 14 were in Marissa's name.
Undeclared properties
Lapid declared a net worth of P10.1 million in 2004, his first year in the
Senate. Seven properties titled to him were estimated at P256 million, excluding
a house in San Diego, California.
Many of the family's properties in the Philippines were allegedly not
declared in Lapid's statements of assets and liabilities and net worth (SALN) in
1995-2004, when he was Pampanga governor.
What were allegedly not declared in the 2003 SALN when his net worth was
P10.1 million were a hilltop mansion in Porac and the three-story Mar-Man
Building on Scout Borromeo Street in Quezon City.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents show that Lapid is a
co-owner of Classic Films International and Mar-Man Farms Corp. None of these
reported big profits.
The film company reported losing P5.49 million in 1996. Mar-Man, registered
in 1993, has not filed financial statements in the SEC. The Lito Lapid College
Foundation, set up in 1992, reported a net loss of P1.2 million in 1998.
Marissa Lapid's Thousand Islands International, registered in 1997, had a
paid-up capital of only P137,000, and GM Concrete Products Manufacturing and
Trading Co., co-owned by Lapid, P1.8 million.
Not born wealthy
In his campaign for a seat in the Senate in 2004, Lapid reported spending
P64.9 million from contributions.
Neither husband nor wife was born wealthy, according to Inquirer sources.
Neither went to college after graduating from high school.
They married when he was still a movie stuntman. She is known in Porac as
having stuck with him despite his affairs with some of his leading ladies in
action movies.
Former Gov. Eddie Panlilio has sued Lapid, his son Mark and three other
Pampanga officials for plunder, accusing them of enriching themselves using the
province's quarry funds.
The Lapids were cleared of the complaint.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
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