Light moment at the Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel forum – that is me blowing a candle while my co-celebrators Joy Fong of Vanity and Joanne Ramirez of Star await their turns. An amused GSIS President and GM Bernie G. Vergara looks on.

ANGEL THOUGHTS

“Trust in the Lord when you feel abandoned by those you trusted.

Walk with Him when you are alone and lonely.

He is always there when you need Him most.

Have faith, nothing is impossible  when the Lord is in your heart!” – Sent by Chito Bertol from the Manila Seedling Bank Foundation

Congratulations to Bam Aquino, the youngest running senatorial candidate. He is the biggest gainer in the latest surveys jumping into the magic “12” circle. The steady ones are Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero, Alan Cayetano, Cynthia Villar, and JV Ejercito. I hope my favorites like Jun Magsaysay, Riza Hontiveros, and Grace Poe catch up.

An observation about Dick Gordon, UNA candidate: he should stop bashing P-Noy and Cory Aquino as he is turning off the Yellow Brigades. Dick is Mr. Red Cross, and perhaps he should stick to aiding people in distress?

Now, amidst the poignancy of the Pontiff’s final days in the seat of St. Peter, the Sabah stand-off tensions, the frenzy of the senatoriable campaign, and the looting of a DSWD office in Davao for relief goods, our Bulong Pulungan media forum at Sofitel was refreshed by a shower of good news, nay, a downpour, from Roberto G. Vergara, or simply Bernie, GSIS President and General Manager last Tuesday.

A “balikbayan” at the forum (we had him last June of 2011 when he outlined his priorities and revealed P-Noy’s marching orders to him, “Take care of your constituents!” ), we wanted to hear how far he had gone with his “wish and do list.” So he gave us, as it were, a “state of the GSIS” which had us glued to our seats.

For starters, the agency implemented the Php5,000 minimum basic pension in January this year  which benefited nearly 57,000 pensioners who previously  received pensions below Php5,000. Also, around 43,000 pensioners with over Php5,000 but less than Php8,000 monthly pension received Php200 increment. Bernie proudly reported:

• Beginning February this year, GSIS also started refunding the premium contributions pertaining to the government share (GS), which were previously deducted from the life insurance benefits of more than 73,000 employees of the Department of Education.

Under the agreement, the DBM settles the Php6.92 billion in unpaid compulsory premium contributions-GS of nearly 800,000 teaching and non-teaching employees of the DepEd from July 1, 1997 to December 31, 2010.

As of January this year, 35 regional offices of PhilPost have signed agreements with GSIS reinstating the loan privileges of more than 12,000 Philpost employees. What did I tell you? Lots of good news from Vergara!

Also, to date, a total of 106 agencies and LGUs have signed agreements with GSIS which have updated the records and restored the loan privileges of more than 804,000 affected employees (excludes MOA with DepEd-National).

The GSIS also worked out the Statement of Loan Accounts (SOLA) Project, under which the agency provides statements of account to retiring members aged 59 years old and above to determine their outstanding loan balances to date. This project, which was piloted in the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development at the NCR, ensures that members’ loan records are already updated before they retire to ensure the prompt release of their benefits.

How efficient and super service to its members!

For our hard-working government prosecutors who became special members of the GSIS last May, 2010, they received a refund of their excess premium payments when Republic Act 10071 became a law providing for a new retirement scheme for prosecutors.

Since the amount of premium remitted to the GSIS  was for regular members (9% personal share and  12% government share monthly) instead of 4% personal share only in compliance with RA 10071, GSIS will refund to the concerned prosecutors the excess amount paid. Since December last year, they refunded the amount of Php34.1 million to 1,239 prosecutors.

Vergara also transferred the jewels of GSIS’s art collection, which included works by Amorsolo, Manansala, Botong Francisco, H. R. Ocampo, BenCab, Federico Alcuaz,  Ang Kiukok, and of course, the controversial Juan Luna painting bought by the last GSIS president to the tune of R50 million to the National Museum in October. The paintings are on loan for 10 years and can be better appreciated by the public in three new rooms of the museum. Bernie likes art works but no, he does not collect them. This brilliant investment banker would rather invest in more stable commercial bonds, etc.

Next month, the GSIS is set to offer some 15,000 Prudential Life Plan, Inc. plan holders an absolute exit from their plan’s contract under the enhanced optional exit mechanism (EOEM). By choosing the exit mechanism, plan holders reduce the risk of losing their hardearned money should the memorial service provider fail to meet its obligations, given the financial difficulty being faced by the pre-need industry.

More good news - it paid out Php930 million in dividends to 1.4 million members, 14% higher than 2011, after posting surplus earnings from the Social Insurance Fund. The GSIS also distributed beginning this February, Php75 million in dividends, to nearly 86,000 optional life insurance policyholders.

Bernie’s  goal is to bring services closer to stakeholders through more GSIS kiosks in accessible  areas, clean up of members’ list and records.

He also is pushing for charter amendments to include Members’ Bill of Right, the designation of beneficiary by single members before age, removal of remarriage and co-habitation as basis for cancellation of survivorship benefits, no prescription period of claims, increase in Funeral Benefits from R20K to R30K and the option of the member to claim his/her separation benefit even before reaching the age of 60.

Real estate properties of the GSIS have been thoroughly inventoried and evaluated and there are concrete plans to make them either productive or sold for very good financial returns!

Bernie also revealed that almost all of the GSIS’ investments are now in the local equity market and yields good returns, thanks to high investor confidence inspired by the good governance of P-Noy and his economic team.

If Bernie seems to understand fully well the heartaches and doubts encountered by past GSIS pensioners, it is because his mother Frances was a government worker. She was with the PNB when it was owned by the government and retired early as she feared, like many other GSIS members at that time that the actuarial life of their pension fund was rapidly drying up. Now, GSIS members can be confident that their pension fund is alive and strong!

Bernie and the GSIS management are working with lawmakers to make some important amendments and changes in their charter, for more good news coming from the agency.