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Recto wants GSIS Act revised for teachers


Prompted by mounting complaints of government employees and public school teachers against the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), a senator has sought to increase their representation in the state pension fund's board of trustees. Senator Ralph Recto on Sunday said his Senate Bill No. 2129 seeks to add one seat each for the two sectors to give them more voice in the fund's decision and policy-making. In GSIS' eight-member board, only one seat is allotted for teachers, and two for government employees and retirees. Four others represent the finance, banking, investment and insurance sectors, while one represents the legal profession. Recto's bill aims to revise the GSIS Act of 1997, which specifies the composition of the GSIS board of trustees. Recto said public school teachers and government employees have complained of the GSIS' slow processing of their claims and erroneous recording of their contributions and loan payments. Their limited representation in the board supposedly hampered the airing of grievances. “Increasing the teachers’ and government employees’ representation in the GSIS Board with people who have expertise in finance will provide them more influence in the formulation of policies and more power to ensure the prudent use of the financial resources of the GSIS," Recto said. “These additional board seats will hopefully give our teachers and government employees in general, the necessary voice to air their grievances against the persistent allegations of inefficiencies and irregularities in the processing of claims and benefits of members," he added. Recto likewise noted that of the 1.4 million GSIS members, 40 percent or about 600,000 are teachers. The number is expected to increase because of President Benigno Aquino III's plan to hire more teachers in his administration. While Recto did not specify the complaints aired by teachers, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers had since denounced the GSIS for its supposed lapses. When the state pension fund was still headed by former president and general manager Winston Garcia, the group said the GSIS passed on its "system losses" to teachers. Before Garcia bowed out of office last June 30, 2010, he said the fund under his help increased its assets by 18-percent in 2009. The GSIS said its assets reached P572 billion in 2009, from a P484 billion the previous year. Complaints The GSIS has been in hot water recently for its "unjust policies," which senators said are a burden to members who contribute their money to the pension fund. Under the fund’s Premium-based Policy, the benefits of members are based only on the amount equal to their contributions, while in the Automatic Premium Loan Policy members must pay should their office fail to pay or remit their contributions. Then there is also the Claims and Loans Interdependency Policy that allows the GSIS to reduce a member’s benefits on grounds that there are unpaid accumulated loans even though these loans are questionable. Senator Loren Legarda said government employees are plagued with unexplained deductions in maturity claims, or retirement lump sum, and deductions in salary loans. Members also suffer from non-payment of dividends, non-deduction of loan payments, questionable deductions of loan payments, and non-payment of funeral benefits and education plans, she added. She said she received information that as of July 2010 the pension fund has been unable to post P6 billion in payments made by its members to their individual accounts. Fat bonuses The Senate finance committee, chaired by Senator Franklin Drilon, also looked into the alleged excessive perks received by officials of government-owned and -controlled corporations such as the GSIS> Last August, then GSIS officer-in-charge Consuelo Manansala said each of the fund's previous board members received about P6 million in salaries and perks in 2009. Manansala said the compensation package included a midyear financial allowance of P600,000, a 15th month pay of P600,000, productivity bonus equivalent to four months at P600,000 (P2.4 million a year), a Christmas representation allowance of P250,000, transportation allowance of P40,000, a representation allowance of P130,000, and an annual medical check-up worth P50,000. Drilons said the amount "cannot be justified." —VS, GMANews.TV

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