JPE top Senate spender in 2011

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile recorded the highest expenses among senators in 2011, according to a report released by the Commission on Audit (COA).

Enrile incurred total expenses of P118,306,463.65 from January to December 2011.

The figure consists of his salaries in the amount of P1,035,837; extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses, P1.649 million; other miscellaneous and operating expenditures, P66.069 million.

Enrile was followed by Senate President Pro- Tempore Jinggoy Estrada with P62,122,308.41; Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, P56,259,173.08; and Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, P55,039,015.88.

The COA released a detailed list of the amounts paid to and expenses incurred by the 24 senators in 2011 in response to the calls from various sectors to open the books of the Senate to the public.

It was unclear why the salaries of the senators recorded for 2011 varied with some receiving P315,000 like Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Nine others received P420,000 pay and 11 others got P905,393.

Former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, who took over Zubiri’s post in August 2011, were 23rd and 24th on the list, respectively. The list was verified by COA supervising auditor Mario Lipana.

The travel expenses of each senator were practically the same at P272,760, except for Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who incurred an additional P279,048 for foreign travel.

For rentals of office space/equipment, four senators topped the list namely Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with P2.205 million; Sergio Osmeña III, P2.162 million; Edgardo Angara, P1.094 million; and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, P840,000.

Only Trillanes recorded a capital outlay expense amounting to P77,701.78 among all senators.

Under the item of professional/consultancy fee, only eight senators incurred such expense namely Enrile, P1.472 million; Estrada, P960,000; Angara, P943,750; Sotto, P775,435.48; Lacson, P480,000; Trillanes, P300,000; Pimentel, P206,301.07; and Loren Legarda, P62,106.04.

Rounding out the top 24 in the total amounts paid to and expenses incurred were Trillanes with P59,977,548.91; Ramon Revilla Jr., P49,832,194.03; Marcos, P49,219,513.85; Escudero, P48,729,719.79; Honasan, P47,185,274.44; Francis Pangilinan, P46,889,065.06; Legarda; P44,107,941.55; Manuel Lapid, P43,565,023.21; Ralph Recto, P42,390,681.54; Pia Cayetano, P42,122,431.08; Angara, P41,789,602.76; Teofisto Guingona III, P41,502,359.45; Santiago, P41,036,900.44; Manuel Villar Jr., P40,312,799.12; Osmeña, P37,680,862.99; Lacson, P37,115,276.55; Franklin Drilon, P34,968,031.74; Joker Arroyo, P31,867, 125.93; Zubiri, P23,955,240.03; and Pimentel, P19,980,236.40.

The Senate has submitted its financial records to the COA for perusal based on an agreement reached by the senators.

Part of the agreement was to provide an itemized list of the expenses, something which the COA was not able to get before because of a resolution passed by Congress.

Many of the expenses incurred by the senators were previously liquidated only through a certification and not itemized as required by law.