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Solon ‘scandalized’ by DFA officials’ multimillion-peso salaries


A progressive lawmaker has asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to explain the multimillion-peso salaries some of its officials received last year despite its repeated insistence that it lacks the budget to assist overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) abroad.
 
Gabriela party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan slammed the DFA for giving 13 of its envoys a total of P138.25M in salaries, allowances and bonuses in 2014. She noted that seven Foreign Affairs officials are among the top 10 highest paid government officials for last year.
 
“These bonuses are highly irregular and even scandalous! It is unconscionable especially amid OFW neglect,” Ilagan said in a statement.
 
Based on a table provided by the party-list lawmaker, the highest paid DFA officials for 2014 are the following:
 
 

Ilagan said that while certain DFA officials enjoy multimillion-peso salaries, distressed OFWs suffer abroad because the agency cannot help in their repatriation, or are belatedly given lawyers and interpreters for their legal predicaments.
 
“This (DFA officials’ big salaries) is the reason why migrant workers get abducted from OFW shelters. Clearly, DFA officials are enriching themselves while doing a disservice to migrant workers,” she said. 
 
The lawmaker has vowed to grill DFA officials regarding the supposedly exorbitant salaries and bonuses the agency gave during the congressional deliberations on the 2016 national budget.

DFA: ‘Nothing irregular’

The DFA on Monday, however, said there is “nothing irregular” with the salaries and allowances of the seven Filipino diplomats who were included in the list of highest paid government officials in 2014 based on a Commission on Audit report.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the report did not show the complete picture since it did not make any distinction between salaries and allowances.
 
“Definitely there is nothing irregular about it,” Jose told GMA News Online.
 
“Included in the emoluments are not only the basic salary but also allowances for overseas posting,” he explained.

In a separate statement, the DFA said the COA Report on Salaries and Allowances (ROSA) for 2014 “inaccurately” indicates several Philippine ambassadors as among the highest paid officials of the government, noting that a part of the report is “misleading.”
 
The DFA said its personnel are covered by the Salary Standardization Law for government workers, meaning its employees and diplomats receive the same pay based on rank and length of service like its counterparts in other government agencies.
 
“Allowances, which are provided in our regulations, are commensurate to one's rank and position,” Jose said. —KG, GMA News

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