GSIS hiking old age pension starting next month

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – It’s going to be a happy new year for old-age pensioners of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

Their minimum monthly pension will be raised to P5,000 starting next month.

Daniel Lacson Jr., GSIS chairman, said pensioners receiving P5,000 but below P8,000 will also get staggered hikes.

Lacson made the announcement at the Christmas forum for old-age pensioners here last Dec. 20.

Lacson said some pensioners are still receiving amounts as low as P200 to P300 per month.

Pensioners receiving below P5,000 comprise some 35 percent of the 220,000 GSIS retirees, he added.

Lacson said the 15 to 20 percent receiving P5,000 but below P8,000 will get staggered increases until their pension reaches the P8,000 level.

“More than half of our old age pensioners will get an uplift,” he said.

“The new policy is designed to help our pensioners who had worked for government a long time ago whose pay can now be considered so low when the standard of living is so high.”

The forum, the first to be held exclusively for old-age pensioners, is part of a continuing consultation program that the new GSIS board launched nationwide in 2010, Lacson said.

At least 150 pensioners attended the forum. Ma. Vilma Fuentes, GSIS Negros Occidental branch manager, was also present.