Who is Marilene Jacinto Arroyo?

While the public observed the fight between wife number two and alleged mistress of the late Negros Occidental Congressman Arroyo, some people could not help but asked where is wife number one. She seemed not interested  in the propertiess lefy behind by the deceased. Even the children in the first marriage did not express any interest.

Here is an article of Babe Romualdez which explains why. 

The Quezon City Prosecutor’s office has indicted Marilene Jacinto, first wife of the late Negros Occidental Congressman Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, for falsification of public documents. The indictment stemmed from a complaint by Marilene’s brother – Ramon “RJ” Jacinto – president of the family-owned Oregon Land Inc., alleging that Marilene faked a Deed of Absolute Sale and presented the same to the Quezon City Register of Deeds to have the ownership of the P300-million Novaliches property transferred to her name.

The indictment is only the latest in the long-running Jacinto family saga marked by infighting among siblings over their inheritance. The late family patriarch Don Fernando Jacinto is the acknowledged founder of the steel industry. Don Fernando’s father, Nicanor Sr., is also one of the founders of the Bank of Commerce and Security Bank, and together with the steel mill in Iligan City plus vast land holdings, the family wealth expanded to great heights. The Jacinto children lived the kind of opulence and extravagance that most other people could only dream about. At a young age, they were living in the lap of luxury, driving around in the flashiest cars and mingling with the scions of society’s most elite. As a matter of fact, RJ would be seen driving around the Ateneo campus in a red and white Thunderbird – at a time when the T-Bird was just being introduced locally – while another brother went around in a Jaguar.

Dispute over inheritance shattered the relationship between the siblings – a fact that Ramon Jacinto feels very emotional about, sources disclosed. Marilene was appointed administrator of the estate of the late Don Fernando and also took over management of the various familycorporations when brothers Joselito and Fernando (Pocholo) retired after the 1997 Asian crisis that hit many businesses – which is when all the trouble allegedly started, the same sources said.

In 2007, Marilene sold the 350-hectare property of the family in Misamis Oriental for P226 million – considered ridiculously low by the other siblings and prompting them to run to RJ for help. At the time, RJ had kept his distance from the other siblings but nevertheless hired an appraiser who said the family property was worth P2.5 billion. According to sources, Marilene – whose former marriage to the late Congressman reportedly gave her considerable connections – succeeded in selling the property to the Philippine Veterans Industrial Development Corp. (Phividec) at less than 10 percent of the appraised value. (Phividec subsequently leased the property to Korean ship builder Hanjin for the latter’s $2- billion shipyard project.)

The rift among the siblings escalated with Marilene accused of squandering the family finances and running away with the others’ share – already little as it is – from the sale of the property. Court records of email exchanges (between 2007 and 2008) among the siblings revealed the acrimony and frustration especially among the other sisters who felt betrayed by Marilene. Two of the Jacinto sisters, Lilibeth and Nannette, passed away in 2009 and 2010 due to cancer while Pocholo died a year later. Sources close to the family allege that the death of RJ’s three younger siblings must have been caused by the stress and unhappiness over the infighting.