P30 million yearly: BSP, finance chiefs highest paid government officials

MANILA, Philippines — Executives of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) have dominated anew the Commission on Audit’s annual list of highest paid government officials, with former governor Felipe Medalla topping the list with a net pay of P34.173 million last year.

Based on the COA “2022 Report on Salaries and Allowances” or ROSA, uploaded on its website yesterday, Medalla’s net pay grew by 56.5 percent or P12.342 million from the P21.831-million net pay he received in 2021 when he landed third on the list.

Medalla took the top spot from former BSP governor and now Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno who came in second with a net pay of P28.781 million from P41.812 million in 2021. Medalla ended his term as BSP governor on July 2 and was replaced by Eli Remolona, who will serve a six-year term.

The COA breakdown showed that Medalla’s net pay for 2022 included P6 million in basic salary as BSP governor for six months (July to December 2022) and P3.3 million in basic salary as BSP Monetary Board member for six months (January to June 2022); P11.864 million in allowances; P11.893 million in bonus, incentives and benefits; P1.092 million in discretionary and extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses (EME), and P24,000 in additional compensation and honorarium.

A total of 9,619 officials from 1,000 national government agencies, government-owned and controlled corporations, state universities and colleges and water districts were included in COA 2022 ROSA. Excluded in the report were elected government officials such as the President, senators and congressmen.

Meanwhile, Diokno had a huge cut in his basic salary to P7.64 million from P12 million in 2021 during his full term as BSP governor.

Apart from his basic salary, Diokno’s net pay for 2022 also included P7.278 million in allowances; P11.555 million in bonus, incentives and benefits; P2.195 million in discretionary and EME; P24,000 in additional compensation and honorarium, and P89,067 classified as “others.”

Except for Diokno, the top 10 highest paid officials for 2022 all came from the BSP.

In third spot was BSP Monetary Board member Anita Linda Aquino with a net pay of P26.362 million from P21.426 million in 2021 when she was sixth on the list.

Aquino was followed by fellow Monetary Board member Victor Bruce Tolentino with a net pay of P25.679 million from P23.292 million in 2021 when he was listed as the second highest paid government official.

In fifth place for 2022 was BSP deputy governor Chuchi Fonacier with a net pay of P25.157 million, followed by Monetary Board members Peter Favila (P24.389 million) and Antonio Abacan Jr. (P24.026 million), senior assistant governor and general counsel Elmore Capule (P22.474 million), BSP deputy governor Francisco Dakila Jr. (P22.387 million) and senior assistant governor Edna Villa (P20.902 million).

The other BSP executives in the list are senior assistant governors Ma. Ramona Gertrudes Santiago (P20.857 million), Iluminada Sicat (P19.877 million) and Johnny Noe Ravalo (P19.159 million); and deputy governor Eduardo Bobier (P18.804 million).

Landing 15th on the list was Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen with a net pay of P18.607 million. He took the spot from Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo who fell to 17th place in 2022 with a net pay P14.991 million.