Teachers to sue GSIS over P21-billion stolen benefits

MANILA, Philippines – A nationwide federation of public school teachers’ associations will ask the Court of Appeals (CA) today to stop the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) from making them pay contributions and loan payments that the Department of Education (DepEd) had failed to remit.

Benjo Basas, Teachers’ Dignity Coalition national chairman, said they would seek the refund of some P21 billion in “overdeductions” that the GSIS has collected and continue to collect from teachers.

Arsenio Jallorina, Manila Public School Teachers’ Association (MPSTA) president, said collecting the arrears from public school teachers was unjust since their non-payment was the fault of the GSIS and the DepEd.

“This so-called non-remittance is largely due to (the) inefficiency of GSIS’ collection system,” he said.

“The agencies are liable for this after they have deducted the premium contributions from our monthly pay.

“It’s not our fault. Why then Garcia penalizes us? This is contrary to the social insurance principle which is to give service beneficial to its members and assure their dignified retirement.”

Basas said the GSIS’s premiums-based policy and the claims and loans interdependency policy are unjust and unfair to GSIS members.

The premium bases the computation of teachers’ benefits not on the length of their service but on the premium contributions being “remitted to and posted” by the GSIS, he added.

As a result teachers and employees incur arrears that compounded because of the monthly interests, Basas said.

Lawyers Roberto Eugenio Cadiz and Racquel Ruiz-Dimalanta will assist the teacher in filing the petition before the CA.

Teachers from the MPSTA, TDC, Teachers Inc. and Federation of Teachers Cooperative (FTC) comprising the broad coalition Teachers’ Solidarity (TS) will join the symbolic march that would accompany the petitioners and their lawyers to the CA in Manila. — Rainier Allan Ronda, Jerry Botial