GOCC execs earn more than Cabinet members

Former Health Secretary Janette Garin was the highest paid member of former President Benigno Aquino III’s Cabinet last year, earning up to P2.52 million, according to a Commission on Audit (COA) report on the salaries of government officials.

Garin, who also received pay as board chair of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., was followed by former Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and former Science Secretary Mario Montejo, who both received P2.166 million in salary, allowances and other benefits in 2015.

Former Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala was the fourth highest paid Cabinet member, earning P2.075 million for the same period, while former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya was fifth with P2.06 million, based on COA’s 2015 Report on Salaries and Allowances published on the COA website on Tuesday.

But the former secretaries were only at the low end—ranking 305th, 453rd, 454th, 485th and 489th respectively—of the salary list dominated by executives from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and financial institutions.

On top of the salary earners list was Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Amando Tetangco Jr., who was paid a total of P13.96 million in 2015. In close second was Government Service Insurance System President and general manager Robert Vergara who received P13.45 million in salaries, allowances and other benefits, the COA list showed.

Teresita Herbosa, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, placed third with P9.8 million, while Anthony Robles, head of the branch banking sector of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), was right behind her with P9.37 million.

Another BSP official, deputy governor Nestor Espenilla Jr., was fifth with P9.18 million.