SC justices among highest paid officials in country

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MANILA – Justices of the Supreme Court are among the highest paid officials in the country, receiving millions in pay and perks, according to a Commission on Audit (COA) report on salaries, allowances and benefits.

SC justices raked in between P3.5 million to P5.7 million in 2013, which computes to about P300,000 to P475,000 a month, and a basic pay of P1.1 million a year , with a chunk of their income coming from allowances.

Allowances are received from the high court and the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET.) Six justices are also given additional allowances from the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) and the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET), of which they are members.

Meanwhile, Sandiganbayan justices received between P2.2 million and P2.7 million, and appellate justices were salaried P1.8 million to P2.5 million.

The following is the breakdown of salaries in 2013, from highest paid downward, of justices of the Supreme Court:

•Presbitero Velasco Jr., HRET chairman – P5.572 million (P3.3 million from SC, P1.6 million from HRET and P822,000 from PET

• Lucas Bersamin – P5.520 million (P3.2 million from SC, P1.5 million from HRET and P822,000 from PET)

• Diosdado Peralta- P5.357 million (P3 million from SC, P1.5 million from HRET and P822,000 from PET)

• Antonio Carpio – P5.297 million (P3.2 million from SC, P1.3 million as SET chairman and P822,000 from PET)

• Teresita de Castri – P4.920 million (P3 million from SC, P1.1 million from SET and P822,000 from PET)

• Arturo Brion- P4.813 million ( P2.8 million from SC, P1.154 million from SET and P822,000 from PET)

• Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno earned P4.211 million – P3.4 million from SC and P846,000 from PET.

Recently retired justice Roberto Abad ranks as the lowest-paid, with P3.538 million in earnings (P2.7 million from SC and P822,000 from PET).