Gov't to pay teachers' debts to GSIS

Thousands of public school teachers may once avail themselves of benefits as members of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) after the national government allocated P2.5 billion to pay their overdue debts to the state pension fund.

House Assistant Majority Leader and Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas said Sunday the money will be drawn from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund under the proposed P1.816-trillion national budget for 2012.

“We welcome President Aquino’s decision to address the unpaid obligations. This will restore the GSIS membership of thousands of teachers, and enable them to reap the commensurate benefits,” Gullas said.

“Our teachers deserve absolute support. They are already overworked and underpaid as it is. We should make it fairly easy for them to obtain loans and other benefits from the GSIS,” the Visayan lawmaker who is a member of the House Committee on Appropriations said.

According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the government has yet to pay the GSIS up to P9 billion worth of contributions.

The arrears represent the employer’s share as well as the employee’s portion of the GSIS dues of thousands of civil servants, mostly teachers hired in recent years, Gullas said.

“The P2.5 billion allotted for 2012 is just the initial payment. The DBM said the entire balance will be settled in installments over the next five years,” he said.

He blamed the piling up of dues to the failure of the previous administration to settle those obligations, which deprived thousands of teachers of their benefits as GSIS members, including the eligibility to obtain quick low-cost loans.

Gullas said the government’s promise to pay its obligations prodded the GSIS to condone P15 billion worth of interest charges on the outstanding dues.

The GSIS earlier advised national agencies and local government units (LGUs) to settle their dues or more than 25,000 civil servants will lose their pension and other benefits.

A total of 287 agencies and LGUs have been suspended for negligence in remitting their employees’ contributions and loan repayments. As a result, their employees can not apply for loans and receive cash dividends from the GSIS.

By CHARISSA M. LUCI
Manila Bulletin

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