Members of the former Aquino Cabinet received millions in salaries and allowances in 2015, with former Health secretary Janette Garin obtaining the biggest paycheck with P2.521 million, according to the Commission on Audit.
Garin received P1.08 million as basic salary, P408,037.31 allowances, P235,000 bonuses/incentives, P348,000 discretionary funds, and P24,000 additional compensation/honorarium.
She also received P425,750.91 as chairperson of the board of directors of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. but she never received any pay for sitting in concurrent capacity as chairperson of the governing boards of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines and Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care, and as a trustee of the Development Academy of the Philippines.
Former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad received P2,234,648 in salaries and allowances last year. He received P1.092 million in basic salary, P173,000 in allowances, P213,980 in bonuses/incentives, P308,000 discretionary fund, and P24,000 additional compensation/honorarium.
Abad also received additional pay of P423,788 as head of the DBM-procurement service, but didn’t get anypay for sitting in the governing board of the National Development Co., National Home Mortgage and Finance Corp., National Power Corp., Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., Development Academy of the Philippines and Philippine Center for Economic Development.
Commission on Higher Education secretary Patricia Licuanan drew a one-year salary of P2.209 million, while then labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz got P2.167 million. Science of Technology secretary Mario Montejo took home P2.166 million.
Former agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala, the highest paid Cabinet member from 2012 to 2014, dropped to sixth place with a total pay of P2.076 million, down by more than a million from his 2014 paycheck of P3.207 million and more than two million from P4.217 million in 2013. The drop in Alcala’s pay was caused by the loss of his post as council chairman of the National Food Authority, for which he received P1.102 million compensation in just four and a half months in 2014 and P2.106 million for the whole of 2013.
Alcala also served without pay as chairman of the National Meat Inspection Service, Human Settlements and Development Corp., National Dairy Authority, National Tobacco Administration, Sugar Regulatory Authority, and ZNAC Rubber Estates Corp., and as member of the governing board of the Land Bank of the Philippines, National Power Corp., Philippine International Trading Corp., and the Development Academy of the Philippines.
He received P1,000 in allowance as chairman of the Philippine Rice Research Institute.
Former Transportation secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya received P2,058,417.10, followed by Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa (Justice), P2,038,018.56, Justice secretary Leila de Lima at P1,907,552.77; Armin Luistro (DepED), P1,997,325.36 and ex-National Anti-Poverty Commission chairman Jose Eliseo M. Rocamora at P1,995,000.
Former executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr got P1,951,520.77; presidential adviser on military affairs Danilo Corte, 1,934,623.33; Gregory Domingo (DTI), P1,932,511.59; Cesar Purisima (Finance), P1,931,860; presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, P1,919,305.98; Ramon Jesus Paje (DENR), P1,916,404.68; Julia Andrea Abad (PMS) , P1,916,151.02; Ramon Jimenez (Tourism), P1,901,056.18; Arsenio Balisacan (Neda), P1,884,287.36; and Corazon Soliman, (DSWD), P1.863 million.