GSIS 'duo' holds dialogue with workers

MANILA, Philippines - The need to review the policy on the grant of survivorship pension, limited ATMs and increased representation for retirees in the GSIS governing board.

These were some of the issues raised by Party List Rep. Emmeline Aglipay of the Democratic Independent Workers Association (DIWA) and officers of the Blessed Association of Retired Persons (BARP) Foundation during a recent dialogue with GSIS chairman Daniel Lacson Jr. and GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara.

The GSIS chiefs informed the workers’ groups that a comprehensive review of all policies of the GSIS is now underway, as the pension fund attempts to resolve all outstanding issues affecting its entire membership, including the grant of survivorship pension benefits.

“In fact, we may finish the review on the survivorship policy on or before the first quarter of next year. Management and the board are also looking into the possibility of re-defining ‘gainful employment’ to qualify a greater number of beneficiaries under the program,” said Lacson.

At present, GSIS defines “gainfully employed” as those earning at least P7,575 equivalent to salary grade 1, step 1 of the government compensation table, making them ineligible to apply for survivorship claims.

Vergara pointed out the need however “to strike a delicate balance between servicing the needs of our members and protecting the actuarial life of the fund. But we are all agreed our paramount consideration in the review is restoring the social mission of GSIS as a provider of a basic safety net for retirees in their old age.”

He added that in line with the effort to bring services closer to its over 1.4 million members across the country, GSIS will deploy over 500 GW@Ps kiosks in all division offices of the Department of Education, provincial capitols, city halls and clusters of municipalities as well as government agencies nationwide. 

At the same time, it has engaged the Land Bank of the Philippines as a service partner to handle pension payments of pensioners initially beginning early next year to gradually expand the same to cover all its members.

On the increased representation of retirees on the board of the System, Lacson explained that former party list representative Mario Aguja recently joined the GSIS Board to represent the retirees’ sector.

Lacson and Vergara, recently dubbed the “GSIS dynamic duo” have been leading a series of dialogues with members nationwide including the Association of Liaisons Officers in GSIS (ALOG), the Philippine Government Retired Employees Association (PGREA) and the Department of Education-National Employees’ Union (DepEd-NEU), to better understand their concerns and eventually put in place policies and programs that are more responsive and sympathetic to them.

“These sectoral groups serve as vital links to our stakeholders and we welcome their opinions on how we can render better service to our members and pensioners,” Vergara said.