Salary & Compensation of top CEOs in the Philippines

Most of us know Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Danding Cojuangco, Tony Tan Caktiong, Manny Pangilinan, Andrew Tan and various others who head the largest corporations in the Philippines. We know how daunting their task is of managing their companies on a daily basis striving to achieve profitability and to maximize their shareholders’ wealth.
Given the enormity of their roles, we are curious: How much are they paid as President or Chief Executive Officers of these companies?
Of course, getting that specific information is close to impossible because they wouldn’t divulge their salaries in public, in the same way that most Filipinos evade the question when asked how much they make. Fortunately for us, the annual reports their companies submit to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) contain pieces of information from which we can extrapolate their compensation.
Public companies are required to show, as a lump sum figure, the total annual compensation of the highest executives of the firm. What we did was divide this figure with the total number of top executives identified to yield the average annual compensation of each top officer. Of course, the CEO’s compensation is sure to be higher than the average figures in the table below because, as highest officers of the company, CEOs generally earn the most among all members of top management.
Monthly Salary and Total Compensation
The executives are ranked in the table below based on their monthly salaries, although the total compensation earned in 2011 is also identified. Monthly Salary refers only to the basic pay they receive every month, while Total Compensation includes bonuses such as thirteenth-month pay and other non-recurring pay items such as performance incentives and stock options.
Since there are thousands of corporations in the Philippines, we limited our analysis to the 30 public companies that comprise the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi). The results are summarized below.
Highest Paid CEOs in the Philippines (2011)
(in Philippine Pesos; only for the 30 PSEi companies)
[TABLE=110]
* Andrew Tan does not receive any compensation as Chairman and CEO of the holding company AGI. The company’s policy is that executives earn fixed salaries per month from the respective subsidiaries or businesses they handle.
Highest Earners: Lopez, Ayala, Pangilinan
Data show that 49-year-old Federico Lopez earns the most both in terms of monthly salary and total compensation in 2011. In the 30-company PSEi list, Lopez is head of two firms: First Gen Corporation (FGEN) and Energy Development Corporation (EDC). As Chairman and CEO of FGEN, his basic monthly salary is around P1.79 million. Yup, that’s P1.79 million basic salary per month. He receives another P1.19 million per month as bonus and additional compensation. All in all, he gets more than P3 million every month as FGEN’s chief executive. The same position in EDC gives him an additional P1.4 million every month. Considering only these two companies, Lopez earns roughly P4.4 million monthly — more than any other CEO on the list.
The sixth richest Filipino, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, is the second-highest paid CEO on the list. As Chairman and CEO of the conglomerate Ayala Corporation, he earns more than P2.42 million total compensation every month, inclusive of a monthly basic salary of P1.66 million.
Manny Pangilinan or MVP is Chairman and CEO of three companies on the list, making him the third-highest paid CEO with a combined total compensation of P2.65 million per month. This is inclusive of his monthly basic salary of P1.76 million in those companies. His basic salary is P950,000 per month as head of Meralco; more than P588,000 per month as chair of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPI); and around P230,000 every month as CEO of Philex Mining Corporation.
Another highest-paid chief executive is Danding Cojuangco of San Miguel Corporation. As CEO of the diversified conglomerate SMC, he gets P1.58 million salary per month plus P746,000 additional compensation monthly, for a total of P2.33 million every month.
Other CEOs holding multiple positions on the list and their compensation are:

  • James Go, Chairman and CEO of JG Summit Holdings (JGS), Universal Robina Corp. (URC) and Robinsons Land (RLC) — total compensation of P1.82 million per month, roughly the same as his basic monthly salary;
  • Isidro Consunji, CEO of DMCI and Semirara Mining Corporation (SCC) — total compensation of P1.4 million per month, inclusive of basic monthly salary of around P490,000;
  • Erramon Aboitiz, CEO of Aboitiz Power (AP) and Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) — total compensation of P806,000 per month, inclusive of basic salary of P630,000 monthly

There are many ways to become rich. Our data above showing each CEO’s monthly salary and total compensation are proof that heading a company is one of them.
Poll: How much do you earn per month?
How about you? How much do you earn as basic salary per month? Answer the poll below so we can compare.
[poll id=”6″]

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25 thoughts on “Salary & Compensation of top CEOs in the Philippines”

  1. A message for all those in the list from Elizabeth Warren: (This actually referring to Americans but it should apply here as well)
    “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you!But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that maurauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea — God bless. Keep a big hunk of it.But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

    Reply
  2. Wow this is amazing! Needless to say that people who are in business have more freedom than a regular person. Maybe it’s time that we FIlipinos should learn how to handle our finances well.

    Reply
  3. Salary of those ceo & president of the company in the philippines can be achieved by working smart and focus.
    In uk/europe, network consultant could earn as much as of the ceo in the philippines from 500K to 2Million pesos a month. i attached the link for £450 to £600 pounds a day. i attached the link.
    once you’ve got this kind of salary, use it as leverage like buying properties or investing on passive income.
    But to get this level is not easy. it would take a lot of patience and know how and investment of money and time. i almost invested 3.5 Million pesos to get to 400 pounds a day.
    i hope this will help.

    Reply
  4. the leverage (earned money from abroad as much as ceo in the philippines) 🙂 that i’ve been saying here is to buy a property with a good location and good rental market in the philippines and get a passive income from it. or buy a mutual fund that will give you an ROI at least 15% a year which is better than a savings or time deposit.
    i posted the link from jobserve that recruiting a network architect or consultant/design that could earn as much as 500K to 2 Million pesos a month. 🙂 Good Luck

    Reply
  5. the article should be entitled “Salary and Compensation of top executives in the Philippines”.  The data provided, as I understand it, is extrapolated from the companies’ annual reports which lumps the highest paid officers’ compensation as a group; the assumption used in this article is that the CEO and every one else in that group is equally paid.  We know that that is almost certainly untrue.  CEOs would easily account for 30%-40% of a 10man pot and 50%-60% of a 5 man pot.   If this article demonstrates anything, it is that CEO’s are paid much more than what the numbers state.

    Reply
  6. These are just wages. Profits are usually larger than wages. Most of these guys own a part of the companies they are managing. They own shares that entitle them for profit shares. These figures are just like a tip of a big iceberg.

    Reply
  7. Personally I can’t agree with this one. I work as an internal auditor in one of the largest wireless service provider here in the philippines, and the monthly salary of our executives are skyhigh. highest I’ve seen is 5M and the lowest is 500k. The figures are for the different dept. heads in our company.

    Reply
  8. Thank you for sharing this interesting information. The responsibilities they handle are enormous, so they get to be rewarded for it. It is not usually easy to get to the top, and so they must have invested a lot as well, not only on their education but also on their social capital and connections. 
    Honestly, what I earn right now is just a small fraction of what they earn. But soon I expect to earn millions too 🙂

    Reply
  9. First Gen Corporation is not so familiar with me but look at that. There is really big money with powerplant (and oil industries). 
    Mas malaki ba sahod ni willy? Eh si FMG at Big Brother kaya?.. hehe…
    I hope they share their salary…

    Reply
  10. We are always curious and thrilled by the big salaries of  execs especially if you’re down there looking up…and to some degree i believe they deserve it…if they treat their employees right salary wise at least…i know of a reputable (so i thought) entity ,a big supermarket chain which do not even pay their employees the minimum wage much less overtime pay.Check them out at their Las Pinas and sucat paranaque branches and you will be less thrilled.,and Dole either is in on it or is unaware as usual.

    Reply
  11. nga pala, may Department Of Labor and Employment pa ba? The last time I checked the practice of not paying the minimum wage or not paying overtime or worse… both… is illegal.And am not talking about a small entity here..it’s a big supermarket chain…wonder which one? well, IT’S NOT savemore or hypermart..they pay the minimum there..take a guess which one…

    Reply
  12. it will be interesting if the author included the total taxes paid by these people for 2010.. maybe you could do a follow up report on that??? 

    Reply
  13. most of the companies mentioned above and the “CEO’s” salary are so high but when it comes to their employees (entry level) salary, its a below average if not average minus tax pa :p aw 

    Reply
  14. Hello! I am Claire S. Moralde, Bachelor of Science in Economics student from University of Southeastern Philippines. Can I ask some data’s of the salaries of these Chief Executive Officer’s in the Philippines? My thesis topic is entitled “Global Environment and factors affecting the salary of the CEO of a Goods Producing Firm in the Philippines”. Preferably, the year would be late 90’s up to this year. Thank you and God bless!

    Reply

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