(Eagle News) — The Supreme Court information technology consultant on Wednesday defended her supposedly hefty salary of P250,000 per month.
Appearing before the House justice committee impeachment hearing against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Helen Macasaet said the monthly salary was even lower than what she received in previous instances.
She said the Government Service Insurance System, for instance, paid her as high as P925,000 monthly for almost two years.
During that time, she said she was able to address what was then a glitch that stopped employees from getting their pension.
“I don’t receive any allowance from SC unlike most employees and officials of the court, so excluding those personal expenses related to performing my work, I would be getting more or less a net of P80,000… It’s not comparable to any salary packages received by employees of the government,” she added.
Josa Deinla Sereno’s spokesperson, alleged that Macasaet was paid less than what an ICT professional should receive.
She said “usual private sector rates for IT consultants is P40,000/day or roughly P800,000/month.”
“She was the principal consultant during the infamous GSIS crash, the biggest ICT disaster in the history of the Philippines. She fixed the ICT systems in GSIS and to date, the ICT architecture she had set up is still being used,” she added.
Sereno is facing an impeachment complaint for, among others, her allegedly hiring of Macasaet without any public bidding.
