RSBS probed anew

The Senate committee on national defense and security will conduct today an investigation into the administration of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Retirement and Separation Benefits System (AFP-RSBS) to determine how best to resolve problems concerning military retirement benefits.

Defense committee chairman Sen. Ramon Magsaysay said that Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita, AFP chief Gen. Narciso Abaya, Association of Generals and Flag Officers (AGFO) president Brig. Gen. Ernesto Gidaya, RSBS president Cesar Jaymen Jr. and Army Chief M/Sgt. Mario Gabriel were invited to attend the hearing.

Magsaysay said his committee will also tackle Senate Resolutions 321 and 708, authored by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon and himself, respectively.

In filing Senate Resolution 321, Biazon said the RSBS was created by Presidential Decree 361 "to serve as a self-sustaining fund system from which the pension, separation and other benefits of the soldiers may be taken."

Biazon said there must be deeper studies and analyses of the viability of maintaining the RSBS "to possibly restructure the charter of the RSBS and to review its financial status and obligations with the principal purpose of ensuring the benefits of retired military personnel."

"The investigations conducted by the Senate in the 11th Congress resulted in changes within the system to fully meet the purpose for which the fund was created," Biazon said.

The RSBS, he added, was set up "to address the retirement benefits of soldiers." However, "because of losses incurred from unwise investments, which, up to now, require huge financing from the fund, this mandate is still yet to be fully met by the RSBS to the detriment of the supposed pensioners."

Magsaysay said that in recent years, the RSBS has been badly managed in terms of financial administration and providing the necessary benefits to members of the military.

He also said the Feliciano Commission report issued in October narrated the low standard of living, corruption and bad administration that triggered the failed July 27 mutiny.

"Two of the conclusions reached relevant to the retirement and separation from the service of the AFP members were the RSBS never discharged the mandate originally set out in Presidential Decree 361 and the RSBS, in its present conception and structure, is fundamentally flawed," Magsaysay said.

"The study should focus on the possible dissolution of the AFP-RSBS, considering the recommendations of the (Feliciano) Commission and the identification of relevant alternatives; the consideration of an AFP Service and Insurance System, possibly as an analog of the existing Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)," he added.

Magsaysay is also seeking the inclusion of the members of the Philippine National Police in the proposed service and insurance system because the PNP performs duties similar to those of the military in ensuring peace and order in the country.