MANILA, Philippines—Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Monday denied a Philippine Daily Inquirer report that he was earning P1.7-million a month and was supposedly the second highest paid government official.
“Dito sa dyaryo ngayong umaga, Monday Sept 17 dito sa bizbuzz ng business section ng Philippine Daily Inquirer, lumalabas dito na ako raw ang highest, second highest on the list who supposedly makes P1.7 million a month, e ang sweldo ko lamang e P92,000, at ang take home pay ko, minus all the deduction ay P67,000, e kung sana ganun ang sweldo ko talaga namang napakaganda ng buhay ko, e wala e (Here in the newspaper this morning, Monday Sept 17, here in bizbuzz of the business section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, it appears that I am the second highest on the list who makes P1.7 million a month, but my salary is only P92,000, and my take-home pay, minus all the deductions, is P67,000. If my salary is in the millions, my life would be better by now),” he told reporters.
He asked the staff of the report to make a research or verify before publishing such kind of stories.
“Ang gusto ko lang kwan ay linawin ito, ipakita naman na dapat bago nilabas yung news item nagkaroon naman sila ng kahit papano ay magresearch or tanungin ako mismo bago ilabas ang ganto, unfair ito, hindi magandang hakbangin itong ganitong bagay (What I want is to clear things up, to show that before coming out with that news item, they should have researched the facts or they could have asked me before coming out with something like this. This is unfair. This is not a good call),” he added.
In a radio interview, also on the same day, Gazmin also denied the report.
“Sigurado dadami ang kamaganak ko at saka kaibigan ko nito (Perhaps my relatives and friends will grow in numbers),” he said in jest.
“Sana ganun ang sweldo ko pero ang basic salary ko is P90,000 plus Cola na P2,000 so P92,000 ang binabawas a month sa akin e P24,805 so ang net ko P67,195 lamang, na kahit sumahin ko ng isang taon yan hindi aabot ng P1.7 million.
He also presented a copy of his payslip to the media.
In the Biz Buzz section of the Inquirer published Monday, it said that Gazmin was the second highest government official, bringing home P1.7million a month.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp chair Cristino Naguiat is the one receiving allegedly the highest salary at P11 million a month.
Other officials on the list were Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who supposedly makes P1.6 million a month; BIR chief Kim Henares (P916,666/month), BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. (P883,000/month) and former Solicitor General Anselmo Cadiz (P731,666/month).
The list was said to have been making the rounds of social media sites.