GSIS in talks with delinquent state agencies and LGUs

MANILA, Philippines - The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is in discussions with delinquent state agencies and local government units (LGUs) for the collection of their unpaid premiums.

 “We are sitting down with all agencies with arrears with the GSIS with the hope they can settle their unpaid obligations,” said Robert G. Vergara,  president of GSIS.

Vergara said the country’s largest state pension fund has so far signed memorandum of agreements with nearly 200 agencies, bringing down the number of government offices with unsettled claims to 124 from 315 in 2010.

The GSIS has also reconciled the records of LGUs with unpaid arrears, effectively leaving only 56 with unsettled accounts.

It considers as delinquent those government agencies that fail to remit at least 90 percent of the mandatory premium contributions for each month or for those working under an agreement with the GSIS to settle their arrears, failure to comply with the terms of the deal.

To restore their status, suspended agencies may either settle the full amount of their unpaid premium obligations or restructure their arrears and commit settling these by entering into a MOA with the GSIS.

The suspension may be lifted if a government agency pays at least 90 percent of any three consecutive months’ premium obligations and commits to enter into a MOA with the state pension fund.

Last July, the government has released P891.4 million to settle the unpaid  GSIS premium contributions of Department of Education personnel in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.