DOST chief highest paid Cabinet member

MANILA, Philippines — Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Peña had the fattest paycheck among members of President Duterte’s Cabinet last year, according to a Commission on Audit (COA) report on the salaries and allowances (ROSA) of government officials.

Dela Peña received a total pay of P5 million, which included P3.10 million in basic salary; P24,000 additional compensation and honorarium; P976,226 in allowances; P572,618 in bonuses, incentives and benefits, as well as P336,000 in discretionary and extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses.

Dela Peña’s pay in 2019 was higher by P865,000 than his P4.14-million pay in 2018, wherein he ranked second in COA’s list of highest paid Cabinet members.

He last held the top spot in 2017, with a total pay of P3.3 million.

Dela Peña also served as member of the governing boards of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, National Dairy Authority and the Philippine Science High School System, but did not receive extra compensation.

Dela Peña snatched the first spot from Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who slid to third with a total pay of P4.86 million from P4.2 million in 2018.

Cusi’s total pay in 2019 included P4.48 million as energy chief, additional pay of P234,300 as vice chairman of the board of the National Transmission Corp. and P146,800 as chairman of the National Electrification Administration board.

Ranked second in 2019 was Health Secretary Francisco Duque III with a total pay of P4.88 million, including P4.61 million as DOH chief and additional compensations of P168,878 as chairman of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and P98,413 as chair of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board.

Duque was in fifth spot in 2018 with a net pay of P3.72 million.

Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III climbed to fourth spot with P4.76 million from seventh in 2018 with P3.553 million.

Bello is followed by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara with P4.68 million from P3.84 million (fourth place) in 2018.

The top five highest paid Cabinet secretaries, however, were not even among the top 100 highest paid government officials in the COA’s 2019 ROSA, which was dominated by executives from state financial institutions such as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, United Coconut Planters Bank and Development Bank of the Philippines.

Dela Peña ranked 159th in the overall list, while Duque ranked 176th, Cusi 179th, Bello 195th and Guevarra 207th.

A total of 8,930 officials from 1,000 national government agencies (NGAs), government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), state universities and colleges (SUCs) and water districts were included in the 2019 ROSA list.

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

Rounding out the top 10 Cabinet members with highest pay in 2019 are: (6th) Commission on Higher Education chairman Prospero de Vera III with P4.65 million; (7th) Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, P4.642 million; (8th) Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones, P4.641 million; (9th) Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, P4.51 million and (10th) Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, P4.5 million.