The perks of being congressman
DAYS before the 14th
Congress opened, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. had humored the
neophyte members of the House of Representatives about the enviable
perks enjoyed by lawmakers. The former representative of Camarines Sur
who once chaired the powerful House appropriations committee was
invited to orient the first-term legislators on the budgeting process.
During his talk, he remarked how wonderful it is to be a congressman:
"You have flexible time. Pwede kang pumasok, pwedeng hindi (You may or
may not go to work) yet still get your salary."
Then, he
warned them not to make the mistake of paying for meals and drinks at
the Batasan Pambansa's South Lounge as it is their privilege to be
served free food.
Andaya may have meant everything as a
joke, only that speaking of the privileges that legislators enjoy in
such manner was hardly amusing, especially given a quorum-challenged
legislature that has been passing fewer and fewer laws each year
despite the ever increasing budgetary allocation to lawmaking. When the
13th Congress formally closed last June 30, it managed to pass only 148
laws , setting a new record-low in the history of the Philippine
legislature. That is no laughing matter.
Yet apparently,
the mention of perks was the very cue Jose de Venecia Jr. had also
waited for. When came his turn to give the freshman legislators a
briefing, the just elected House Speaker announced even more
entitlements for members of the Lower House, in particular, an annual
P1-million foreign travel allotment, and allocations for additional
staff and maintenance of their respective district offices. There's
even a new building in the works to house new offices for the
congressmen.
What the public commonly knows is that his or
her district representative gets a monthly salary of P35,000, plus, of
course, yearly pork-barrel allocations amounting to P70 million -- P20
million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and P50 million
as congressional allocation for public works projects.
What
is seldom known are the amounts corresponding to their other
entitlements, apart from salary and pork barrel. As gleaned from the
Commission on Audit 's annual published itemized lists, these include
expenses for district staff allocation, contractual consultants,
research, consultative local travel, communication, and supplies. There
are also allocations for a public affairs fund, central office staff,
equipment/furniture and fixtures, and other maintenance and operating
expenses (MOE).
COSTLY CONGRESSMEN
What the Public Spent for the Upkeep of Each Member
of the House of Representatives in 2005
EXPENSE ITEMS*
AMOUNT
Basic Salary
420,000.00
Foreign Travel
220,867.70
District Staff Allocation
650,000.04
Contractual Consultants
120,000.00
Research
396,000.00
Consultative Local Travel
788,763.71
Communication
129,600.00
Supplies
120,000.00
Public Affairs Fund
308,400.00
Central Office Staff
1,982,033.58
Equipment/Furniture and Fixtures
21,537.84
Other MOE
600,000.00
Source: Commission on Audit
*Figures for Foreign Travel, Consultative Local Travel, Central Office
Staff and Equipment/Furniture and Fixtures are average amounts. The
rest are uniform for all congressmen.
The COA lists are
not at all comprehensive and do not even include expenses of
legislators as committee members and officers which, in 2005, amounted
to over P92 million. In 2004, the House spent about P77 million on
these expenses.
Data from the PCIJ book, The Rulemakers ,
show that the annual upkeep of each congressman had almost doubled from
P2.83 million in 1994 to P5.16 million in 2002. Latest data culled from
the published expenses of the 13th House point to a continuing trend,
with the annual upkeep pegged at P5.7 million each congressman in 2005,
or P480, 880.36 a month -- the highest to date.
COSTLY CONGRESSMEN - 2
Annual and Monthly Upkeep of Each Member of the House of Representatives
YEAR
ANNUAL UPKEEP
MONTHLY UPKEEP
1994
2,830,608.48
235,884.04
1995
2,588,929.44
215,744.12
1996
3,235,886.71
269,657.23
1997
3,496,225.83
291,352.15
1998
2,827,975.56
235,664.63
1999
4,537,482.57
378,123.55
2000
4,562,446.31
380,203.86
2001
3,917,321.63
326,443.47
2002
5,155,221.54
429,601.79
2004
4,112,520.42
342,710.04
2005
5,770,564.32
480,880.36
Source: Commission on Audit
While
there has not been any increase in their basic salary since 1999, and
most of the other entitlements have remained at their 2001 levels, each
House member's district staff allocation has been increased to P650,000
annually. MOE also ballooned to P600,000 in 2005 from the previous
year's P411,000. Meanwhile, expenses on consultative local travel and
central office staff were at their highest in the same year at over
P788,000 and close to P2 million, respectively, per congressman.
Foreign
travel expenses in 2005 also was double the 2004 amount at an average
of P221,000 each House member. The total bill paid for by the
government for the overseas trips of 170 congressmen was P59,413,412.
82.
COSTLY CONGRESSMEN - 3
Annual Average Amounts Paid to Foreign Travel of Members
of the House of Representatives
YEAR
AMOUNT
1994
98,444.80
1995
89,948.98
1996
187,176.33
1997
184,458.69
1998
156,475.83
1999
372,988.06
2000
432,950.16
2001
254,395.86
2002
316,201.67
2004
110,129.44
2005
220,867.70
Source: Commission on Audit
THE HOUSE JETSET*
Top 10 Spenders on Foreign Travel Among Members
of the House of Representatives in 2005
CONGRESSMAN
EXPENSES
Antonio Cuenco
1,294,058.05
Roque Ablan Jr.
1,014,006.90
Monico Puentevella
960,789.66
Emilio Espinosa Jr.
806,904.43
Ernesto Nieva
795,350.89
Juan Miguel Zubiri
787,582.99
Abdullah Dimaporo
777,886.88
Hermilando Mandanas
741,172.72
Arnulfo Fuentebella
733,777.65
Reylina Nicolas
731,196.5
Source: Commission on Audit
* List does not declare the foreign travel expenses of House Speaker Jose de Venecia.
Because maintenance, operating, and other expenses of House members are
consolidated with their basic salary in the payroll and classified as
"outright expenses," these are no longer subject to liquidation, which
means that congressmen do not have to account for these funds.
What's more, as reported in The Rulemakers:
They are not expected to submit a payroll of their district staff or
report their function, salaries and withholding taxes. No one starts
asking if they do not produce a report on the research their offices
should supposedly undertake. There is no demand for them to produce the
list of consultants they have hired, as well as the contracts they draw
up for those whose services they need. As fas as the current (lack of)
rules go, how the legislators spend their public affairs fund is their
business and business alone.
The generous perks do not end
there. The House Speaker is himself a source of funds with a vast
discretionary largesse at his disposal. From this are mostly drawn the
representatives' monthly allowances (which can range from P50,000 to
P100,000), Christmas bonuses (P100,000 to 200,000), as well as the
"payoffs" for votes during speakership contests and "appearance fees"
(P50,000 as minimum) for attending plenary sessions to vote on crucial
national bills.
Under de Venecia, who has won an
unprecedented fifth term as Speaker, the 14th House is not likely to
veer away from the usual practice. Isn't it high time that the public
demanded greater financial accountability from their representatives?
Posted by Alecks P. Pabico
See the blind beggars dance, the cripples sing, the idiot a hero, the lunatic, king...
Blog it to your Space with Live Writer!
Live Writer