Highest-paid government men

The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) has listed the 10 highest-paying jobs in the country.

Topping the list are aircraft pilots, navigators or flight engineers who earn up to P157,000 a month, according to Dole.

Another lucrative job is that of a graphic designer involved in animation and cartoon production. They get paid as much as P99,658 monthly.

In 10th place are production supervisors and general foremen who get P47,521 a month.

But Dole forgot to include policemen and ordinary Bureau of Customs (BOC) employees.

A new cop, the lowest-ranking PO1 (police officer 1) could earn—if he is very smart—as much as P1 million a month!

On the other hand, a customs appraiser earns in one month what an ordinary soldier or noncommissioned officer would get after 30 years of hard work.

No kidding but there’s a proposal among some citizens that BOC employees should not be given regular salaries since they earn millions of pesos monthly.

I once saw a customs janitor—yes, one who sweeps floors and cleans the toilet—driving a brand-new Mitsubishi Pajero, a luxury sport utility vehicle.

A female official of the BOC dogged by corruption allegations is back in the bureau.

Not only that; she has been given a lucrative post.

A lifestyle check by the National Bureau of Investigation’s antigraft unit will probably hold her in check.

This is the same customs official who had a big fight with her boyfriend, a broadcaster, which led to their breakup. She later sued him in court for extortion.

She wanted to get even with her ex for making a comment about her personal hygiene.

When the case reached the courts, the boyfriend was cross-examined. He cited in graphic detail the reason behind the filing of the charge against him.

Everyone inside the courtroom doubled up in laughter.

Justice Secretary Vit Aguirre plans to replace the whole contingent of Special Action Force (SAF) troopers guarding the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

“Many of them have been tainted, Mon,” Aguirre told me during a recent breakfast meeting.

He had received reports, he said, that many of the SAF troopers were receiving bribes from convicted drug lords.

The justice secretary said he was going to ask the Armed Forces to assign soldiers, preferably Marines, as replacements.

I hate to say I told you so but I had suggested to Aguirre that soldiers, not policemen, should be assigned to guard the national penitentiary.

Members of the elite SAF are still policemen who would later join the Philippine National Police, one of the most abusive, corrupt and inefficient police forces in the world.