Court of Appeals orders gov’t to pay INP retirees’ pension

MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals (CA) has directed the government to proceed with the payment of P3.9 billion in pension benefits to retired members of the defunct Integrated National Police (INP).

In an eight-page decision issued last Dec. 12, the Special 14th Division of the appellate court ordered the full implementation of a 2016 CA decision for the release of benefits to the INP retirees by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

It dismissed for lack of merit the petition of PNP and DBM questioning the order of Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 32 in July last year, which applied the list of INP retirees and their respective pension amounts submitted by PNP for implementation of the pension payment.

The CA rejected the bid of PNP and DBM to wait and apply a list from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) instead of the PNP list in the payment of pension differentials to the INP retirees.

Petitioners argued that the participation of GSIS in the payment of retirement benefits is necessary as it is the only agency that can provide the pension history of the INP retirees.

They further stressed that the retirement pay must be subject to conditions and limitations to ensure that such public funds would be released only to rightful beneficiaries.

The CA did not agree.

It cited the position earlier submitted by the GSIS that “the responsibility to evaluate the list of retirees lies with the PNP as their employer.”

“Here, the PNP and DBM cannot be permitted to further delay or thwart the execution of judgment against them by continuously rehashing allegations that have long been rejected,” the CA held in the ruling penned by Associate Justice Mario Lopez.

The appellate court explained that the payment of retirement benefits to INP retirees with equal amount given to PNP retirees had already been affirmed with finality by the Supreme Court and that Congress had also appropriated funds for this purpose by enactment of Republic Act 10633.

The CA likewise ruled that the RTC was correct in rejecting petitioners’ plea to withhold the payment of the pension to INP retirees pending submission of the list from GSIS.

“The appropriation law is clear that the release of funds shall be based on the list of eligible INP retirees with the corresponding computation of their respective retirement benefits and pension, duly authenticated by the PNP, which shall be submitted to the DBM for validation of the computed benefits... Likewise, the PNP and DBM need not await the verification from GSIS before releasing the funds,” it stressed.

“Considering the INP retirees’ advance years, they can hardly afford another protracted proceeding and the courts should frown upon any attempt to deprive them of the fruits of the final and executory verdict,” the ruling added.

Associate Justices Zenaida Galapate-Laguilles and Ronaldo Roberto Martin concurred with this decision.

The PNP and DBM had initially released P900 million to 785 INP retirees in 2015 but only after receiving the list of verified beneficiaries from GSIS. 

INP was the forerunner of the current PNP, which was formerly merged with the Philippine Constabulary. Former INP members retired after the Philippine National Police was created, although some members chose to stay with the PNP until they reached the mandatory retirement age.

A decision issued in May 2016 by the CA affirmed an earlier ruling of Manila RTC Branch 32, which ordered the DBM to pay the pension differentials of INP retirees covering the period from 1991 to 2006.

The CA’s decision was an offshoot of the action sought by members of the Manila’s Finest Retirees Association Inc., which asked the court to execute the ruling issued by the RTC in Manila in 2014.

The pension differentials stemmed from a decision of the Supreme Court in 2007, wherein it held that INP retirees are entitled to receive the same benefits as those from the PNP.

The high court said that since its decision had to be implemented retroactively, the DBM must pay the unpaid amount to the INP pensioners from 1991 up to 2006.

Former INP members entitled to the differentials are INP retirees, transferees and survivors who had rendered service before the enactment of Republic Act 6975, the law that created the PNP and made it as a reorganized “department” of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.