How much do we pay our senators?

The Philippine STAR last January 15 published the COA-audited report of expenses incurred by all senators and congressmen. It matters most to all Filipinos to know how much our elected and trusted legislators have been spending from public funds.

These funds, we all know, were taken from our taxes and from foreign and local borrowings. The last time we checked our total national debts have reached a whopping $13 billion. Last October, we hit a historic all-time high of $12 trillion and counting. This administration is a record-holder of having incurred the biggest debts in history, perhaps rivaled only by the 21-year regime of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. It is apt that the Marcoses and the Dutertes are in a team asking for the voters' blessings to give us six years more of mounting indebtedness.

For the Senate, the total expenses incurred by 24 senators for 2021 was P2,258,568.54. Most expensive, in alphabetical order are: Ronald M. de la Rosa, P104,350,290.63. He was followed by Sherwin T. Gatchalian with P104,908,482.98. Then, Emmanuel D. Pacquiao with P103,839,854.22, and Francis Pangilinan with ?104,189,165.41, then Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares with P100,447,823.14, and Ralph G. Recto with P116,824,147.58 (most expensive). Then Vicente C. Sotto III, (curiously, the Senate president had lesser expenses than Recto) and Migz Zubiri, majority floor leader, with P103,224,673.04.

The rest also in alphabetical order are: Juan Edgardo M. Angara with P89.18M, Pilar Juliana S. Cayetano with P84.76M, Leila M. de Lima with P97.85M (even when detained, still spending more than Cayetano and Angara), Franklin M. Drilon with P73.79M (one of the least expensive), Christopher Lawrence T. Go with P65.49M (imagine Bato dela Rosa spending almost double Bong Go's expenses), Richard J. Gordon with P95.58M, Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros Baraquel with P94.47M, Panfilo M. Lacson with P90.21M, Manuel M. Lapid with P93.69M (what has he done?), Imee R. Marcos with P92.80M, Aquilino Martin L. Pimentel with P96.85M, Ramon Revilla Jr. with P96.97M, Francis N. Tolentino with P85.89M, Joel J. Villanueva with P81.85M, and Cynthia A. Villar with P75.65M.

We are not going to make any judgment on the high spenders, they might have been the most hardworking, but show us the performances, like "graduating” Ralph Recto who is term-limited. Neither are we going to heap praises on the lowest spenders, for they might have been the laziest and the most inept. But we do not think Bong Go is lazy. He is always traveling with the president, which leaves us wondering whether he is with the Legislative or still with the Executive department. We are just wondering why Leila de Lima, who has been detained for many years, is still spending too much.

I just want the people to know that each senator received an annual salary of P3,280,056 or roughly divided by 12 to mean that each month, P273,338. This does not include too many allowances, bonuses, and other perks. Whether they have perfect attendance or they keep on going to Las Vegas to fight a boxing match or are being detained and are unable to attend in plenary sessions and committee hearings. These people are lucky, compared to nurses and other frontliners who needed to rally to collect their pittance of allowances, and the teachers who had to cross rivers and climb mountains to bring and collect modules from their students.

Well, that is why every Tomas, Dickoy, and Hilario wants to be in the Senate. It’s all about money. Are we going to perpetuate this rotten system?