THE Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) is meant to be a boring document — a civic receipt of a public official’s financial standing.
This is hardly the ‘sexy’ story journalists rush to write.
But for this city’s Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy, a look at his decade of filings reveals a surprisingly volatile financial biography, marked by dizzying peaks, dramatic crashes, and strategic debt-shedding.
It’s less a ledger and more a roller-coaster of personal finance.
Latest balance: Mid-eight figures, lean liabilities
The most recent publicly available snapshot of Mayor Uy’s finances — from his time as a congressman, before he assumed the city’s highest post in 2022 — shows a relatively stable and moderate position.
The last publicly available SALN from Uy’s congressional term, dating to the end of 2018, showed a declared net worth of P16.82 million.
This figure was derived from his total declared assets of approximately P23.8 million — a pool comprising real properties, cash, investments, and vehicles — minus a manageable P6.97 million in liabilities, which primarily consisted of loans or payables.
In the context of the political landscape, this figure paints Uy as a man of modest wealth — “neither among the very richest nor the poorest officials in Congress at the time,” according to the House of Representatives SALN Summary Report (17th Congress).
He entered his mayoralty run with a “healthier balance sheet” than he had carried just two years prior.
The wild ride: Multimillionaire to debt slayer
The true story of Uy’s finances lies in the turbulent years of his congressional tenure, where his net worth fluctuated with an almost frantic energy.
2013: The peak
This was Uy’s financial summit. His net worth reached a record high of P50.58 million. This figure was backed by roughly P53.58 million in total assets, which included a substantial P44.4 million in personal assets (likely significant cash or investments).
2014: The crash
The following year brought a stunning reversal. Uy’s wealth dropped dramatically by over P30 million, landing him on lists of lawmakers who became “poorer in 2014,” as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer that year.
This massive dip “coincided with a reduction in his personal assets,” suggesting a large chunk of his liquid cash or investments was either spent or disposed of.
2016: The debt bomb
After a recovery year in 2015, the numbers swung violently again.
By the end of 2016, his net worth plummeted to P15.80 million. The reason?
His liabilities had more than doubled in one year, ballooning to P19.88 million.
This “notable shift” suggests the incurrence of new loans or obligations ― possibly to finance the 2016 campaign or other investments ― effectively erasing the net worth gained in the rebound.
2017–2018: The divestiture
The final years of his congressional term were characterized by strategic restructioning. Uy shed over P12 million in assets in order to eliminate roughly P13 million in debt.
The result? A much healthier balance sheet by 2018, with his net worth stabilizing at P16.82 million — a far cry from the P50M+ high but resting on a foundation of significantly lower debt.
The unfinished filing
For now, the 2018 SALN stands as the latest available record of Uy’s declared assets and liabilities.
The filings covering his current mayoralty (mid-2022 onward) have yet to be made public.
Marked by extreme swings — a 65% drop in 2014 and a liability spike in 2016 — these declarations confirm his finances were powerfully “affected by one-time events,” including possible campaign spending, debt repayment, or asset reallocation, and present a personal economy that is anything but routine.
