The Vice Presidential electoral protest boosted the government earnings of all Supreme Court justices, adding almost P1.5 million to their annual earnings as members of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

These are based on the 2020 Reports on Salaries and Allowances (ROSA) released on Wednesday, May 12, by the Commission on Audit (COA).

All justices who sat in the PET for a full year in 2020 got around P1.2 million each in PET honoraria and around P250,000 each in PET allowances. Former chief justice Diosdado Peralta, as PET chairperson, got P1.4 million in honoraria and P280,000 in allowances.

All in all, the Supreme Court paid a total of P44 million in honoraria and allowances to 16 justices for their time as members of PET in 2020.

Three justices who retired mid year – Andres Reyes Jr, Jose Reyes Jr, and Priscilla Baltazar Padilla – got lesser amounts, while two incumbent justices – Ricardo Rosario and Jhosep Lopez – did not get any, having been appointed only recently.

The honoraria they received almost doubled in 2020. In 2019, justices only got PET honoraria worth P720,000 each, compared to the P1.2 million in 2020.

From 2016 to 2019, justices – both incumbent and retired – were paid a grand total of P55.5 million in honoraria and allowances just for being members or chairmen of the PET, according to past ROSAs.

Combining amounts in 2020, the Supreme Court spent in honoraria and allowances for justices P99.5 million for the entire duration of the vice presidential electoral protest filed by Bongbong Marcos Jr against Vice President Leni Robredo. This excludes their allowances, if any, for 2021, as the case was resolved only in February 2021.

Their government earnings do not form part of their overall worth, as they could have more assets outside government, but these could only be shown by their Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

The Supreme Court only provides summaries of SALNs, and the last time they even provided summaries was way back 2017. Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo has said he backs full transparency for their SALNs, and even releasing a full copy, just as long as it complies with the post-Corona rule that it must be justified to the en banc.

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More justices in top ranks

Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe is the first justice since 2009 to make it to the top 5 of the highest-paid government officials. 

Bernabe is fifth with annual total government earnings of P15.203 million.

Since 2009, which is as far back as ROSAs go in the COA database, retired justices Lucas Bersamin and Presbitero Velasco Jr have been the only two justices in the top 10 highest-paid government officials.

Velasco ranked 6th in 2017 with P9.5 million in annual earnings, while Bersamin ranked 9th in 2018 with P10.9 million in annual earnings.

The top 10 usually consist of banking officials, which is why it’s also unprecedented for Solicitor General Jose Calida to be part of the upper crust. For 2020, Calida was still the second highest paid, maintaining his 2nd rank from 2019. Central Bank chief Ben Diokno is now top 1.

Bernabe’s earnings in 2019 amounted to P10.2 million. Her PET allowances were not the only boosters, because the report showed the senior justice received P3.3 million in honoraria and another P3.1 million in allowances as associate justice of the Court.

Bernabe received P1.3 million in honoraria and P2.3 million in allowances in 2019 as associate justice.

Peralta is 7th highest-paid government official in 2020, earning an annual P14.5 million before he retired in March 2021.

Associate Justices Marvic Leonen, Benjamin Caguioa, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, and Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando are in the top 20, at numbers 15-18, respectively.

– Rappler.com