GSIS says pension disbursements totaled P18.78B

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) disbursed nearly P18.78 billion pension benefits in January-October, up by 11 percent from P16.87 billion in the same period last year. In a statement Wednesday, the GSIS said it paid P16.38 billion to old-age pensioners and P2.4 billion to survivorship pensioners. The state-run pension fund attributed the increase in disbursements to the growing number of GSIS pensioners on top of the implementation of the 1.5-percent increase in pension benefits. Since January this year, the 1.5-percent increase in pension benefits has been in effect but applying only to those who started contributing to GSIS since 2005. The pension fund for government employees, which has close to 280,000 active pensioners, has disbursed an average of P1.7-billion pension benefits on a monthly basis. “Pensioners of this state-run firm remain the highest earning retirees in the country today," the GSIS said. Apart from their monthly pension, pensioners are also entitled to cash gifts at the end of the year. The GSIS said its domestic pensioners could withdraw their monthly pension, cash gifts, and even the proceeds of their pension loan from any Megalink, Bancnet, or Expressnet automated teller machines (ATMs) nationwide. Pensioners living abroad, however, could also withdraw the same benefits and loan proceeds from any ATM abroad with a VISA Plus Network at the currency of the country they are in. In the past, domestic and foreign pensioners had to make personal appearances to withdraw their pension benefits. For pensioners outside the country, both old-age and survivorship pensioners can already renew their active status through SKYPE or through the 262 GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (G-W@PS) kiosks all over the country. By the first semester of 2011, the GSIS will deploy additional 500 kiosks in all division offices of the Education Department, provincial capitols, city halls, clusters of municipalities, and government agencies across the country. GSIS president and general manager Robert G. Vergara said they are studying ways to make it more convenient for pensioners to renew their status. “Our vision is to harness technology so that, eventually, all our pensioners need not come to the GSIS office for renewal of their active status. They can just do it in the comfort of their own homes through technology-enabled means," he added. He reaffirmed the mandate of the pension fund to provide retirement benefits to GSIS stakeholders especially those pensioners who have rendered years of public service. — JE/MRT/VS, GMANews.TV