Since Diokno says the country does not have enough money, he can help the State by waiving in favor of the government even a percentage of his excessive compensation
Last year, the Commision on Audit (COA) reported that Benjamin Diokno, then the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), was the highest-paid government official of 2021.
Diokno drew a compensation of P41.81 million that year, far more than that of his boss, President Rodrigo Duterte.
Diokno was also the highest paid government official in 2020.
Recently, the COA reported Diokno, the current Secretary of Finance, was paid P28.78 million for 2022, again far more than the compensation of his boss, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
For 2022, Diokno ranked second to incumbent BSP Governor Felipe Medalla who got P34.17 million.
The fickle BSP Monetary Board Member Victor Bruce Tolentino, who last May denounced the Kadiwa rolling store project of President Marcos Jr. but later took back his criticism, is the fourth highest paid official for 2022, bringing in P25.67 million.
Last June, Diokno criticized the retirement pension program for military and uniformed personnel.
Diokno said military and uniformed personnel who benefit from the pension program should contribute to the pension fund.
It seems that Diokno considers military and uniformed personnel as spoiled beneficiaries who draw a pension without contributing to the pension fund.
Diokno’s compensation runs into millions of pesos for a job that keeps him in the comfort of his luxurious office. He seems unaware that soldiers and policemen, who put their lives at risk in the course of their duties, draw a lot less than he does.
According to Diokno, the unfunded liability of the pension fund for military and uniformed personnel is at P9-trillion already.
The military and uniformed personnel, Diokno said, stopped contributing to the pension fund during the administration of President Fidel Ramos. Subsequent presidents including his ex-boss President Duterte, Diokno said, also stopped contributions.
Diokno has been at the helm of the nation’s finances for the past seven years.
He had the ear of President Duterte, and has the confidence of President Marcos Jr.
Why is it only now that Diokno is noisily blowing the whistle on the pension fund of our military and uniformed personnel?
What took Diokno so long to do so? Has Diokno been sleeping on the job all along?
Incidentally, Fort Bonifacio, the military reservation that provided homes for our soldiers who defend the country from internal threats and external aggression, was sold off to private interest groups under the Ramos administration.
It took a soldier like Ramos to render his fellow soldiers homeless in the metropolis.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, who has had enough of Communist China’s aggression against Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea, recently called for a local boycott of Chinese imports.
Zubiri also urged the government to disallow Chinese construction companies from operating in the country, particularly in infrastructure projects that have a direct bearing on national security, telecommunications and bayside reclamation.
Diokno opposed Zubiri’s proposals. Without elaborating on his opposition, Diokno said the boycott will adversely effect the nation’s infrastructure program, which will be costly to the government.
China is provocatively seizing Philippine territory within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, in blatant violation of international law, and in the process compromising national security, and Diokno is more concerned about infrastructure and costs?
Besides, isn’t the proposed boycott a concern more of the Secretary of Trade and Industry rather than the Secretary of Finance?
Where are the priorities of Diokno anyway?
Weeks ago, Diokno announced the government’s free education program must end immediately because it is a big drain on the budget. Apparently, Diokno needs to read the Constitution’s mandate on free public education.
In fine, the highest paid government official in the country now wants to derail the pension fund for military and uniformed personnel, and to stop free education in the country, all because the government does not have enough money.
Since Diokno says the country does not have enough money, he can help the State by waiving in favor of the government even a percentage of his excessive compensation.
Under Diokno’s watch as BSP governor from 2016-2022, the Philippine peso deteriorated in value compared to other South East Asian countries’ currencies.
One is tempted to ask if Diokno deserves to receive the highest salary in the national government despite the downtrend of the peso.
As for the fickle Victor Bruce Tolentino, many people suspect that he had P25.7 million worth of reasons to take back what he said against the Kadiwa project of President Marcos Jr.
At any rate, what is Tolentino doing about the value of the Philippine peso?
Congress should do something about the excessive compensation package of top Department of Finance and BSP officials.
At a time when many Filipinos are unemployed, hungry, sick and homeless, the excessive salaries and allowances of the likes paid to Diokno, Medalla and Tolentino are ostentatious and unconscionable benefits.