GSIS to review several policies affecting members, pensioners

State-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is planning to review some of its policies to address issues that have long been affecting its members and pensioners. These policies include the Premium-Based Policy (PBP), the Claims and Loans Interdependency Policy (CLIP), the Automatic Premium Loan (APL), and the grant of survivorship pension. In a statement Wednesday, GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara said that the pension fund's board of trustees will revisit these policies that have caused "ire and clamor among members and pensioners." "We want to restore the social mission of the fund, that is, to provide a basic safety net for government retirees in their old age. Clearly, throughout this process, we need to strike a balance between the needs of our members and the actuarial solvency of the fund," he said. This move came about after the CLIP, the APL, and the Lower House had filed separate resolutions noting that they would look into the GSIS' policies. Last September, Vergara announced that the GSIS, through his leadership, would make the pension fund service-oriented and responsive to the needs of its members. The state-owned pension fund implemented in 2003 the CLIP, the APL, and the PBP to restore the actuarial solvency of the GSIS fund. The CLIP involves the collection of outstanding balances of defaulting loan accounts from the proceeds of a new or renewed loan. The APL meanwhile requires the automatic deduction of any default in the payment of the life insurance premiums, with interest, from the accumulated cash surrender or termination value of a member's life policy. On the other hand, the PBP means that the level of benefits that members get depends on their actual premium contributions to the pension fund. -- JE, GMANews.TV