GSIS restores benefits to Caloocan employees

MANILA, Philippines - After seven years, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) lifted yesterday its suspension of the Caloocan City government employees’ benefits.

Mayor Enrico Echiverri and GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara and chairman Daniel Lacson signed a memorandum of agreement at the GSIS main office in Pasay City at around 1 p.m. yesterday.

“The Caloocan City Hall employees can now avail themselves of benefits from the GSIS,” Echiverri said.

In a statement, Echiverri said the agreement will have the city government will “settle” a debt of P15.78 million it inherited from “previous” administration, as principal payment while the interest will be paid over three years.

Thousands of employees of the Caloocan City government failed to get any benefits from the GSIS for the last seven years after the agency stopped approving their claims because of unpaid premiums.

Last July, Vice Mayor Edgar Erice filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against Echiverri for alleged non-payment of employees’ GSIS contributions amounting to around P343 million.

Erice sought a 60-day suspension for Echiverri, which the Ombudsman approved. The Court of Appeals reversed the ruling on Sept. 13 in favor of Echiverri.

Echiverri claimed that the local government’s GSIS records encountered problems when the government insurance agency’s database reportedly crashed, destroying its members’ records.

Last month, the city government created a reconciliation team, led by city administrator Russel Ramirez, to iron out kinks in the city government employees’ records with the GSIS.

– Jerry Botial, Pete Laude