‘Ex-ombudsman not qualified to sit on GSIS board’

MANILA, Philippines — Results of an inquiry conducted by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) showed that former ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez is not qualified to be a member of its board of trustees for not being a member of the state-run insurer at the time of her appointment in April 2023.

GSIS president and general manager Jose Arnulfo Veloso has furnished Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin with the findings of the GSIS “in relation to a whistleblowing complaint” filed against Gutierrez, currently a member of the board representing the legal profession.

The GSIS conducted the inquiry following an anonymous email sent by a whistleblower claiming that Gutierrez “failed to possess the mandatory qualifications required by the GSIS Charter when she was appointed to the GSIS Board.”

“I respectfully submit to you the findings of the GSIS in relation to a whistleblowing complaint, which claimed that Trustee Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez failed to possess the mandatory qualifications required by the GSIS Charter under Republic Act 8291 when she was appointed to the GSIS Board,” Veloso told Bersamin in a letter dated April 11.

According to Section 42 of Republic Act 8291 or the GSIS Charter, trustees must be members of GSIS at the time of their appointment.

Veloso said he provided Bersamin with a timeline from when the GSIS received the anonymous email up to the conclusion of the state pension office’s study of the matter.

Last March 28, Veloso said the state-run pension fund manager received the email requesting for a validation of the qualifications of Gutierrez when she was appointed to the GSIS board.

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, Civil Service Commission Chair Karlo Nograles and the Governance Commission for Government-owned and controlled corporations were also furnished a copy of the complaint.

Gutierrez, who served as ombudsman during the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was appointed as a member of the GSIS board representing the legal profession on April 28, 2023.

She was impeached in 2011 by the House of Representatives, but resigned as ombudsman before the Senate could subject her to an impeachment trial during the presidency of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.