Efraim Genuino, the embattled former chair of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), has come out on top of a list of highest-paid government officials in 2010, according to a Commission on Audit report.
Genuino, who headed the Pagcor until the change of administration on June 30, 2010, received a total of P287.4 million in salaries and allowances, the COA said.
The COA explained that the salaries and allowances of the topnotchers in the list included discretionary and confidential or intelligence funds.
The topnotchers in the previous years’ lists had protested the inclusion of discretionary and confidential or intelligence funds, claiming that these funds were used by their agencies and did not necessarily go to their pockets.
However, other highly paid officials in the 2010 list could not claim to have access to any confidential or discretionary funds. Their presence in the list was wholly because of their huge salaries, bonuses, incentives and benefits.
The next top earner after Genuino was his successor, Cristino Naguiat, with P69 million, for the six months that he served in 2010, but still less than what Genuino got.
As presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda has said, Naguiat has spent his first year in office conducting investigations into his predecessor’s conduct at Pagcor, filing a raft of criminal complaints against Genuino for allegedly misusing the funds of the agency.
The other top 10 earners—a mix of past and incumbent officials—were:
Former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales with P15.9 million; Angeles City Water District head Romeo Calara, P15 million; Clark Development Corp. president Benigno Ricafort, P14 million; Former Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) president Ma. Theresa Defensor, P12.5 million; Development Bank of the Philippines CEO Edgardo Garcia, P11.9 million; Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, P10.9 million; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco, P10.6 million, and DBP executive vice president Benedicto Bitonio, P9 million.
Ricafort, Garcia, Tetangco and Bitonio were also in the list of top earners in 2009.
2009 topnotcher
The official who topped the list in 2009, the then Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Administrator Armand Arreza, did not figure in the 2010 list and neither did any incumbent SBMA official. Arreza was listed as having received P26.865 million in 2009.
Ricafort, the second highest earner in 2009 and No. 3 in 2010, had protested the 2009 COA report showing that he received P14.5 million, claiming that funds that were not part of his paycheck were wrongly credited to him.
According to the 2010 COA report, the bulk of the money that Genuino received in 2010 were confidential/intelligence funds and discretionary and miscellaneous funds.
The confidential funds amounted to P283 million, while the discretionary and miscellaneous funds totalled P1.5 million. His basic salary was P473,407, while his bonus, incentives and benefits came to P1.2 million.
Genuino’s allowances amounted to P905,005 while his personal economic relief allowance amounted to P8,950.
In the case of Naguiat, his confidential/intelligence funds amounted to P66.2 million, and his discretionary and miscellaneous funds, P306,652. His basic salary was P476,016 and his bonus, incentives and benefits came to P1.229 million. His allowances amounted to P909,000 and the separate personal economic relief allowance was P8,950.
Gonzales’ confidential funds amounted to P15 million and discretionary funds, P145,999. His basic salary was P362,106 and his bonus, incentives and other benefits, P332,093. His allowances amounted to P66,000, while his economic relief allowance was P12,000.
Calara had P8.7 million in discretionary and miscellaneous expense funds, and P5 million in confidential funds. His basic salary was P708,000 and his allowances amounted to P287,200.
Calara’s bonus, incentives and benefits was P241,000, while his economic relief allowance was P24,000.
‘Others…’
Ricafort had P10 million in confidential/intelligence funds, and a basic salary of P2 million. His allowances amounted to P1.4 million while his bonuses reached P566,151. He also got P18,000 in economic relief allowance and another P18,000 classified as “others.”
Defensor had no discretionary or confidential funds in 2010, but she had P7.2 million in bonuses, incentives and benefits. Her basic salary was P4.5 million. She also got P765,087 in allowances and P21,000 classified as “others.”
In its 2009 audit of the PNCC, the COA had reprimanded the state-owned construction firm for giving its board of directors, officers and employees P57 million in allowances that it said lacked legal basis. It said the PNCC had done this while owing the government more than P7 billion in concession fees and other liabilities.
DBP’s Garcia had no discretionary or confidential funds, but he had a basic salary of P6.4 million. He also had P4.2 million in allowances and P1.3 million in bonuses, incentives and benefits. He got P12,000 in economic relief allowance and P32,400 classified as “others.”
Gazmin, Tetangco
Gazmin had P9.9 million in confidential and intelligence funds and P145,999 in discretionary and miscellaneous expense funds. His basic salary was P416,748, while his bonus, incentives and benefits amounted to P384,458. His allowances stood at P66,000, and he also received an additional economic relief allowance of P12,000.
Tetangco had P991,052 in discretionary funds. He had a basic salary of P5.4 million and P2.24 million in allowances. His bonus, incentives and other benefits amounted to P1.972 million. He got P6,000 in economic relief allowance, and another P67,133 classified as “others.”
Bitonio had no discretionary or confidential funds. His basic salary was P4.9 million, while his allowances amounted to P3.2 million. His bonuses, incentives and benefits stood at P1 million. He also got P12,000 in economic relief allowance and P32,400 in “others.”