No 'ghost pensioners' in the military - AFP

MANILA, Philippines -  The military yesterday claimed that it has no “ghost pensioners” as it has an adequate system to verify the identities of retired soldiers.

Armed Forces Pension and Gratuity Management Center chief Col. Richard Siga-An said they are continuously undertaking measures to ensure the integrity of the military pension payroll.

“We do not have fake pensioner scam in the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines),” Siga-An told The STAR in an interview over the weekend.

“We have a system to verify the authenticity of documents being submitted by retiring AFP personnel and their legal beneficiaries,” he added.

Siga-An made the statement amid reports that the government has released about P1 billion for police “ghost pensioners” for the last five years.

Last week, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said about 2,000 names on the list of police pensioners were fake. He said the government has spent P250 million a year for these ghost pensioners. 

Siga-An said their system entails regular coordination and crosschecking with other agencies like the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, National Statistics Office, the Bureau of Immigration and the Ombudsman.

“All application folders of retiring AFP personnel pass through stakeholders starting from his or her unit assignment, to division, to the major services headquarters up to the general headquarters level,” he said.

He said the AFP has maintained computer data of all the pensioners called the Pension Management Information System.

According to Siga-An, all pensioners are required to update their status annually by appearing in person and submitting a proof of life.

“Various forms of information campaigns are frequently conducted for the AFP active personnel to know the retirement law and updated procedures and requirements for benefits application,” he added.