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MANILA, Philippines – Which government officials are earning the most money? Based on the Commission on Audit’s 2022 Report on Salaries and Allowances (ROSA), they all come from the central bank.
Former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governors Felipe Medalla and Benjamin Diokno topped the list, but every government official named in the top 10 also hailed from the central bank. Every one of them also earned more than P20 million annually.
Here are the top 10 earners in 2022:
- Former BSP governor Felipe Medalla – P34.172 million
- Former BSP governor Benjamin Diokno – P28.781 million
- BSP Monetary Board Member Anita Linda Aquino – P26.362 million
- BSP Monetary Board Member Victor Bruce Tolentino – P25.679 million
- BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier – P25.157 million
- BSP Monetary Board Member Peter Favila – P24.389 million
- BSP Monetary Board Member Antonio Abacan Jr. – P24.026 million
- BSP Senior Assistant Governor and General Counsel Elmore Capule – P22.474 million
- BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila Jr. – P22.387 million
- BSP Senior Assistant Governor Edna Villa – P20.902 million
Medalla, who served as BSP governor from the start of the Marcos presidency on June 30, 2022, until July 2, 2023, took the top spot from Diokno, who used to be the highest paid government executive in 2020 and 2021. Diokno was BSP governor from 2019 to mid-2022.
Medalla earned P9.3 million as his basic salary, P24,000 in honorarium, P11,863,947.14 in allowances, P11,892,648.16 in bonuses, incentives, and benefits, and P1,091,913.04 in discretionary, extraordinary, and miscellaneous expenses.
Diokno, who now serves as finance secretary, earned comparatively less in 2022 with P28.781 million. In 2021, when he was the highest paid official, he took home P41,811,528.23.
The 2022 ROSA covers 9,620 secretaries, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, and officials of various government agencies, as well as the top officials of the governing boards of government-owned or controlled corporations. The report does not include the compensation of the President, Vice President, and members of Congress.
The amounts listed are also exclusive of intelligence and confidential funds, per diems and other travel expenses, reimbursement of operating expenses, utilities, service charges, separation pay, gratuity pay, terminal pay, and monetization of leave credits. All figures were also presented before taxes. – Lance Spencer Yu/Rappler.com
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Wow, BSP officials becomes multimillionaires just by joining the Government and having such official positions. The position of the Presidency is not even included in the Top Ten. In addition, these officials get these positions by way of Presidential Appointment (I believe, kindly correct me if I am wrong) – just the Signature of the President (zero expense, just plain “sipsip”?). The President’s Salary is a total of P4,936,584 per year in 2022, so no wonder why it could not make it to the Top Ten. But, sadly, the recent occupant of the Presidential Position spent P 623 Million last election, which could not be regained based only on his salary (using the President’s 2022 salary, he would have a deficit of P 593,380,496). No wonder why Corruption will always tempt President Marcos Jr.!