GSIS warns against not reporting death of pensioners

CEBU, Philippines - The Government Service Insurance System-Cebu Branch will soon be filing collection cases against surviving spou-ses or guardians who do not report to their office that the pensioner is already dead.

GSIS-Cebu Branch manager Vilma Fuentes said they end up paying a non-existing pensioner with the spouse/guardians' nonreporting.

"The pension funds belong to the government pensioners and to the future government pensioners. We cannot waste the funds for non-beneficiaries," she said.

Fuentes spoke after the media and information officers' interaction during the Association of Government Information Officers-7 6th Annual General Assembly yesterday.

"So far, we uncovered 21 cases in Central Visayas nga patay na ang pensioner unya wa g'yud gi-report sa mga hingtungdan. Ang nahitabo, nagsige mi og hatag og pension for 18 months until we discovered nga namatay na diay," she further said.

Of the 21 cases, she said, only two were able to pay the excess pension.

Fuentes said that this scenario of "excess pension" happened after the Annual Renewal of Active Status was abolished following complaints that old-age pensioners on board ambulances were forced to renew their status.

"Mao ni ang reklamo before nga ang mo-renew sa ilang status kay tiguwang na lage kay mag-ambulance," she said.

Since its abolition, Fuentes said they have been appealing to the public to report to them in case they came to know a pensioner who is already dead but still continues to receive monthly pension.

Currently, Fuentes further said, they are conducting home visits to pensioners with age 80 and above.

Fuentes explained that if the old-age pensioner dies, his or her surviving spouse will get a 50 percent of the former's monthly pension. In case of the death of such spouse, their minor child or physically handicapped child is entitled to receive 10 percent of the monthly pension.

Central Visayas has over 23,000 pensioners.

Meanwhile, during the media and IO interaction, some issues were raised such as for the latter to know how to make their press releases newsworthy to get printed in newspaper or broadcasts over radio or television. (FREEMAN)