The world's highest paid heads of nations  

In the field of Human Resources, pay is the most concrete reward commensurate with the level of one's position, scope of responsibilities, degree of accountability, volume of work, quantum of difficulties, and number of risks, hazards, and difficulties involved. Compensation is often a status symbol, a measure of importance and a manifestation of prestige. The higher the pay, the more esteem is bestowed, commensurate respect is accorded, and the degree of importance is indicated. To most people, it is a major determinant of self-esteem.

Based on the above premises, we have made a research of the top 10 highest-paid heads of states or heads of government. We have to remember that in nations governed by royalty, the head of state is the king or queen and the head of government is the prime minister. In the case of Great Britain, the current head of state is King Charles and the head of government is Rishi Sunak. In Malaysia, the king or yang dipartuan agong is the head of state, elected for a term of five years from among the nine sultans, and the head of government is Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. In nations with a presidential type of government, the president is both head of state and head of government. That is the system in the US, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

The pay, all computed in US dollars so as to have a common measure of comparison, is annual or per year. The tenth highest paid among the more than 200 nations worldwide is the prime minister of Luxembourg, currently Xavier Bettel, with an annual pay of $278,035. The ninth is the chancellor of Austria, formerly Sebastian Kurz, with an annual pay of $328,584. Eighth is the president of Mauritania, Mohammad Ould Abdel Aziz with an annual compensation of $330,000. Seventh, among the highest-paid heads of nations is Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand, with an annual salary of $339,862. The sixth is the chancellor of Germany, formerly Angela Merkel, with an annual pay of $369,727.

Number five among the highest-paid heads of states and governments is the prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison with an annual pay of $378,415. Number four is the US president, formerly Donald Trump, now Joe Biden, with an annual salary of $400,000. The third is the president of the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland), Ueli Maurer, with a pay of $482,958 annually. The second highest-paid is Carrie Lam, chief executive of Hong Kong, with an annual compensation of $568,400. She must not have a salary higher than Xi Jinping, president of China, considering that Hong Kong is just a small component of the Peoples' Republic of China. But China and Russia do not reveal the salaries of Xi and Vladimir Putin, respectively. These are highly-guarded state secrets. The people might revolt if they knew their leaders' salary.

The number one and the highest paid among all the heads of state and heads of government is, hold your breath, the head of government of one of the smallest island city states, Singapore, whose population is only 5.4 million, almost the same as the population of the whole island of Cebu. The annual salary of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is a whopping $1,610,000. His one-year salary is almost equal to the combined compensation of heads of state and heads of government of the USA, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand altogether. And yet, Singapore is 13.68 times smaller in size compared to America. In HR, this is called wage distortion. It violates the principle of equal pay for equal work.

The current salary of the president of the Philippines is ?3,903,642.00 or only $70,310,55 a year. Of course, that is only the salary. We are not imputing the free board and lodging in the Palace, the free transportation and representation allowances and all the perks, the powers, and the privileges. We cannot compare apples with calamansi. But BBM has 7,107 islands to oversee, 111 million people to protect and defend and thousands of problems to solve. Singapore is only smaller than the island of Panay or Samar. But then again, Singapore is one of the strongest economies in the world. Ours is one of the weakest with more than ?13 trillion in debt.