Villar seeks probe of GSIS death notices to living pensioners

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. is seeking an inquiry into allegations that living pensioners of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) are receiving death notices that cause unnecessary inconvenience and delays in the release of their monthly pension.

In Resolution No. 632, Villar urged the Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprises and other appropriate committees to conduct the probe, in aid of legislation, on the pension fund being administered by the GSIS.

The resolution was based on a report of the experiences and complaints of GSIS pensioners, citing the cases Jose Sevilla Sr. and Concepcion Flores.

Sevilla, an 86-year-old former auditor of the Commission on Audit, received a letter from the GSIS informing him that his name was in the National Statistics Office’s (NSO) records of death, at the same time asked Sevilla to prove his existence.

Flores, a resident of Tagbilaran City, received a similar notice of death and was informed that there were 20 other persons named Concepcion Flores.

The GSIS, for its part, explained that the GSIS-NSO matching of database was necessary to monitor the status of pensioners in a continuing campaign to cleanse the system’s records of unqualified pensioners.

“While it is indeed a noble prudent action that the status and other information pertaining to membership be validated, the GSIS should be more circumspect and sensitive in the adoption of their policies, considering that most of its members and pensioners served the government well and spent the best years of their lives in public service,” Villar said.

The GSIS was created to provide pension and financial assistance to all members and employees of the government bureaucracy while employed and after retirement.