TUCP urges full disclosure of $565-million Global Investment Program

MANILA, Philippines – The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) yesterday called on the new chairman of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to fully disclose the condition of the fund’s Global Investment Program (GIP).

The TUCP stressed members of the pension fund have to be informed concerning the pension fund’s $565-million program.

“Over the last two years, the global financial markets have been highly turbulent. We reckon the GIP has been shaken by the turmoil,” TUCP secretary-general Ernesto Herrera said.

Herrera said even President Aquino, during his campaign sorties in the May 10 elections, was frequently asked by retired government employees over where their GSIS pensions went.

“When retirees don’t get their pension on time, they don’t care about the excuses for the delay. They will simply suspect that their pensions have been stolen one way or the other. Or that GSIS does not have the money, and is simply stalling payments,” Herrera said.

Herrera said the new GSIS chief must reveal the management fees being paid by GSIS to Credit Agricole Asset Management Ltd. and ING Investment Management for overseeing the GIP.

GSIS launched the GIP in April 2008. Under pressure from TUCP and members of the Senate, GSIS eventually published a summary of the GIP in newspaper advertisements in October that year.

GSIS then declared P10.456 billion worth of investments in “global fixed income” instruments, P4.127 billion in global equities, P3.08 billion in global property securities and P8.875 billion in cash, short-term notes and other investments.

But Herrera said GSIS did not provide the exact stakes it had in every type of instrument, despite TUCP’s plea to post the details on the pension fund’s website.

The TUCP urged the GSIS to include the exact amounts invested in every bond, note, common stock and currency swap, at cost.

The pension fund simply indicated that some 40 percent of the GIP was invested in fixed-income instruments, including sovereign bonds or treasury notes issued by the governments of the United States, Germany, Canada, France, Japan, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, Herrera said.