Caguioa will be the Supreme Court’s highest-paid party in 2023, thanks to poll tribunals

Joining Caguioa are Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo and Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr. in the top 20 of the highest paid government officials from the judiciary

MANILA, Philippines – The handling of election cases has boosted the income of Supreme Court (SC) Adjutant Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, according to the Commission on Audit (COA) on Salaries and Allowances (ROSA) 2023 report.

Caguioa was the highest-paid judge and the 13th-highest paid government official last year with 19.6 million euros. The SC judge’s income came from his salary and allowances as a sitting deputy judge, as chairman of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and member of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

Under SC, Caguioa received a total of P16.4 million. His earnings under the Supreme Court include: P3.8 million for his base salary, P7.4 million for Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA)/Additional Compensation (ADCOM)/honorarium, P3.5 million allowances, P1.3 million bonus, incentives and benefits, and P354,000 for discretionary and extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses (EME).

He received over P3 million for PET (Total: P1.75 million – P1.2 million PERA/ ADCOM/ Honorarium and P550,000 in allowances) and HRET (Total: P1.49 million – P1.1 million in allowances and P354 , 000 for discretionary and EME).

The PET, whose chairman and members are SC judges, is the sole judge for contests related to the election, return and qualifications of the President and Vice President. Meanwhile, the HRET is the sole judge in all competitions involving members of the House of Representatives.

The HRET consists of three SC judges and six members of the House of Representatives.

Members of the judiciary in the highest ranks

Behind Caguioa is Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, who earned £16.3m in 2023. The Supreme Court’s chief magistrate was the 18th highest-paid government official last year.

As chief justice, Gesmundo’s base salary was P4.58 million. He received P24,000 for PERA/ADCOM/honorarium, P6.3 million allowances, P2.98 million bonus, incentives and benefits, and P354,000 for discretionary and EME. As chairman of PET, Gesmundo received an honorarium of P1.4 million and allowances of P610,000.

In addition to Caguioa and Gesmundo, other members of the judiciary, including ombudsman Samuel Martires, are among the highest paid officials.

According to ROSA, revenues from the PET increased the allowances of the SC judges last year.

In 2020, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s vice-presidential election protest galvanized against then Vice President Leni Robredo also the income of the magistrates. This made former senior judge Estela Perlas Bernabe the first judge since 2009 to reach the top 5 of highest-paid government officials.

COA releases ROSA annually as part of its mandate to ensure transparency in government. ROSAs are released “to effectively monitor the emoluments paid to high-ranking government officials who hold multiple positions in different government agencies.”

Furthermore, these incomes do not reflect the total value of civil servants, as only their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth contain information on, among other things, civil servants’ assets. – Rappler.com