COA erred in computing ambassadors’ allowances – DFA

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) erred in computing the compensation that scores of ambassadors and other diplomatic officers posted abroad received in 2014, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“The COA made a mistake in computing the compensation of our personnel. The amounts reported included not only basic pay but living allowance and home rentals as well,” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told the House appropriations committee chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab.

“We have communicated the mistake to COA to make sure it is not repeated,” he said.

COA recently came out with a report on the total compensation received in 2014 by 8,299 government officials and officers of state corporations. The report included basic salary, allowances, discretionary funds and other benefits.

Of the 30 highest-paid bureaucrats, 24 are from the DFA, one from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), one from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and four from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

Erlinda Basilio, the country’s ambassador to China, topped the list with total pay amounting to P16.4 million.

The other DFA personnel and their compensation are Enrique Manalo, P12.3 million; Lourdes Yparraguirre, P11.7 million; Maria Teresa Taguiang, P10.9 million; Esteban Conejos Jr., P10.7 million; Philippe Lhuillier, P10.6 million; Maria Cleofe Natividad, P9.9 million; Mercedes Tuason, P9.7 million; Grace Princesa, P9.6 million; Cresente Relacion, P9.4 million; Victoria Bataclan, P9.1 million; Eduardo Meñez, P9.1 million; Bayani Mercado, P9 million; Cecilia Rebong, P8.8 million; Jaime Victor Ledda, PP8.6 million; Leah Ruiz, P8.6 million; Narciso Castañeda, P8.4 million; Eleanor Jaucian, P8.4 million; Alejandro Mosquera, P8.3 million; Jose Burgos, P8.2 million; Leslie Baja, P8.2 million; Nestor Ochoa, P8.1 million; Victoriano Lecaros, P8 million; Generoso Calonge, P8 million, and Leo Herrera-Lim, P7.9 million.

The COA report showed that the basic annual salary of Basilio and her colleagues was less than P1 million. The rest of their compensation was in the form of allowances.

For instance, the ambassador to Beijing received P947,352 in basic pay, P15,345,879.24 in allowances and P146,318.57 in other benefits.

Her DFA boss Del Rosario was paid a total of P1.7 million, just a fraction of what Basilio received.

GSIS president Robert Vergara, who followed Basilio in the 2014 list, earned P12.7 million. Vergara topped the 2013 COA compensation report.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco was paid P9.9 million. The highest paid DBP officers were Anthony Robles, P9.9 million; Fe Susan Prado, P9.1 million; Benel Lagua, P8.4 million and Alexander Patricio, P8.4 million.