Trillanes top Senate spender

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV remained the highest spender in the Senate while Sen. Teofisto Guingona III spent the least in 2014, a Commission on Audit (COA) report showed.

The COA has itemized a list of amounts paid to and expenses incurred by each senator from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2014.

Based on a paid ad in The STAR yesterday, Trillanes’ office expenses totaled P86 million. 

Trillanes, however, had in the past years justified having spent most of his budget, saying the description “highest spender” was unfair since every senator has a ceiling for each item under their respective office’s allocation.

Unlike others, Trillanes claimed he maximized the use of his office funds so that he could reach out to as many constituents who need help.  

On the other hand, Guingona is considered the least spender of his budget allocation, which COA recorded at P44.58 million.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III was next to Trillanes with expenditures reaching P76.912 million; followed by majority leader Alan Cayetano with P76.167 million.  

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto’s expenses for 2013 were pegged at P73.894 million; Juan Edgardo Angara, P73.30 million; Lito Lapid, P72.8 million; JV Ejercito, P72.723 million; Vicente Sotto III, P69.731 million; Loren Legarda, P68.9 million; Senate President Frank Drilon, P68.8 million; Ferdinand Marcos Jr., P68.771 million; Pia Cayetano, P68.220 million; Juan Ponce Enrile, P68.126 million; Bam Aquino, 67.399 million; Cynthia Villar, P66 million; Gregorio Honasan, P65.733; Grace Poe, P64.296 million; Jinggoy Estrada, P57.480 million; Ramon Revilla Jr., P57 million; Miriam Defensor-Santiago, P56.101 million;  Nancy Binay, P53.4 million; Francis  Escudero, P51.224 million, and Sergio Osmeña III, P44.863 million.

Total expenditures of the Senate in 2014 reached P1.587 billion, including P225,114 million in professional and consultancy fees, the COA said. 

House spent P3.4 B

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives spent a total of P3.4 billion in salaries, communication, and maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of its members in 2014, the COA reported.

 The COA released an itemized list of expenditures by each lawmaker from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2014 that totaled P3,406,128,528.29, slightly higher than the chamber’s total expenditures in 2013 at P3.07 billion.

The COA said the figures were based on the records of the chamber including expense reports of chairpersons, vice chairpersons, and members of the various standing, special, and oversight committees.

 Among the payments to lawmakers were their basic salaries, foreign travels, and allocations for district and office staff.

 Expenses incurred by lawmakers were for their contractual employees or consultants, research, representation, consultative local travel, communication, supplies, public affairs fund, central office staff, equipment and fixtures, and other MOOE.

 The expenses per lawmaker vary depending on his or her position or committee membership in the chamber.

 The list did not include expenses incurred by officers and secretariat of the House.