BSP execs still highest paid in government – COA

MANILA, Philippines — Executives of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas have dominated anew the Commission on Audit (COA)’s annual list of highest paid government officials, with BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. topping the list with a net pay of P35.48 million last year.

Based on COA’s “2023 Report on Salaries and Allowances” or ROSA, uploaded on its website on Thursday, Remolona’s net pay grew by P29.3 million or 474 percent from the P6.18 million net pay he received in 2022 where he was not even in the top 20 but at 132nd.

The COA’s breakdown showed that Remolona’s net pay for 2023 included P5.97 million in basic salary as BSP governor for six months (July to December) and P3.3 million in basic salary as BSP Monetary Board member for six months (January to June); P11.7 million in allowances; P10.01 million in bonus, incentives and benefits; P2 million in discretionary and extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses (EME); P24,000 in additional compensation and honorarium; and additional P2.47 million from “prior years’ adjustment.”

Remolona took the top spot from his predecessor, former BSP governor Felipe Medalla, who was relegated to second spot with a net pay of P28.05 million from P34.17 million in 2022.

Medalla ended his term as BSP governor on July 2, 2023 and was immediately replaced by Remolona who is set to serve a six-year term until July 2029.

The COA’s breakdown showed that in just six months, Medalla took home P6.06 million in basic salary as BSP governor; P6.93 million in allowances; P14.36 million in bonus, incentives and benefits; P684,390.09 in discretionary and EME; and P12,129.03 in additional compensation and honorarium.

A total of 9,513 officials from 1,007 national government agencies, government-owned and controlled corporations, state universities and colleges and water districts were included in COA’s 2022 ROSA.

Excluded in the COA report were elected government officials such as the President, senators and congressmen.

Just like in previous years, the COA’s list for 2023 was dominated by BSP officials.

In third spot was BSP deputy governor Chuchi Fonacier with a net pay of P26 million from P25.16 million in 2022 when she was at fifth spot.

Fonacier took the third spot from BSP Monetary Board member Anita Linda Aquino who landed in fourth with a net pay of P25.05 million from P26.36 million in 2022.

Aquino was followed by fellow Monetary Board member Victor Bruce Tolentino with a net pay of P24.75 million from P25.68 million in 2022.

In sixth place was BSP senior assistant governor Edna Villa with a net pay of P23.52 million, followed by deputy governor Francisco Dakila Jr. (P23.32 million), senior assistant governor and general counsel Elmore Capule (P22.34 million) and senior assistant governors Johnny Noe Ravalo (P21.60 million) and Iluminada Sicat (P21.12 million).

Landing in 11th and 12th spots, respectively, were BSP deputy governor Eduardo Bobier (P21.01 million) and senior assistant governor Ma. Ramona Gertrudes Santiago (P20.77 million).

Two other BSP executives were also in the top 20 – deputy governors Mamerto Tangonan (P16.89 million) and Bernadette Romulo-Puyat (P16.07 million) at 16th and 20th spots, respectively.

Meanwhile, three magistrates of the Supreme Court also made it to the list, with Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa at 13th place with a net pay of P19.65 million, Chief Justices Alexander Gesmundo at 18th (P16.32 million) and Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr. at 19th (P16.08 million).

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra landed 14th on the list with a net pay of P17.81 million, followed by Development Bank of the Philippines president and chief executive officer Michael de Jesus at 15th (P17.04 million) and Government Service Insurance System president and general manager Jose Arnulfo Veloso at 17th (P16.63 million).