The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) said it remains committed in uplifting the welfare of its members and pensioners, as well as maintaining its presence in the local capital market.
Reacting to statements by some lawmakers recently, GSIS Spokesperson Atty. Estrella Elamparo said the GSIS has been consistent in providing an increase in the claims benefits it disburses to its pensioners over the past decade.
“The GSIS is the only pension fund in the country that has continuously increased its pension since 2000, and has implemented another increase starting this month. In fact, with this increase, the average monthly pension of GSIS pensioners has further increased to around P7,800, more than a hundred percent more than what other pension funds disburse,” she said.
The GSIS has also recently increased the amount of Christmas cash gift it gave to its pensioners last December by 27.6 percent to P1.18 billion from the P923 million budget allocated for the Christmas cash gift in 2007.
Meanwhile, for the first 10 months of 2008, the GSIS recorded an increase of 12 percent in the amount of claims and benefits it has disbursed to its pensioners to P28.6 billion from P25.5 billion the previous year.
On the other hand, as of December 17, 2008, the total value of service loans disbursed by the GSIS to its members through the Consolidated Loan Program reached P34.01 billion for some 336,965 availing GSIS members.
In addition, a total of P1.62 billion was disbursed for the P10,000 cash advance facility availed by members who enrolled their eCard Plus in 2008, while regular and optional policy loans granted to 109,669 members amounted to P1.82 billion.
The GSIS also disbursed P1.62 billion in emergency loan proceeds to 80,730 eligible members working in government offices heavily hit by typhoons like “Cosme” and “Frank” in 2008. The loan bears an interest rate of eight percent per annum and is payable in equal monthly installments for a term of three years.
“The figures speak for themselves. The amount of claims and loans the GSIS disburses every year clearly shows that the System has never, ever wavered from its commitment to its members and pensioners,” said Atty. Elamparo.
The GSIS has also condoned P7.7 billion in surcharges and penalties of members’ loans that have been declared in default as of end-2007. The condonation was applied automatically on the GSIS members’ loan accounts.
Meanwhile, Atty. Elamparo said the System remains an active player in the local capital market, even if it has decided to tap investment opportunities overseas.
“When the GSIS launched its global investment program (GIP), it does not mean that the System has abandoned the Philippine capital market. In fact, we remain to be an active player in the local bourse, specifically in a number of blue chip stocks,” Atty. Elamparo, also the chief legal counsel of the GSIS, pointed out.
In 2007, the GSIS tapped the services of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Bank of the Philippine Islands and Banco De Oro Universal Bank to manage P6 billion in net investible funds for a period of three years. The three banks were assigned to be the local fund managers of the GSIS with a mandate of P2 billion each.
The GIP is a program by the GSIS to diversify its loans and investments portfolio and improve its overall risk profile by tapping investment opportunities abroad in the form of financial securities through the hiring of global fund managers and a global custodian.
“Right now, the GSIS portfolio is already fairly diversified per asset class. But these assets are all domestic and highly correlated with the performance of the local capital market,” said Atty. Elamparo. “Through the GIP, the GSIS hopes to expand its investment horizon and capitalize on the opportunities offered by other capital markets.”
The GIP was launched in January 2008. In March of the same year, the GSIS named ING Investment Management and Credit Agricole Asset Management (Singapore) Ltd. as global fund managers for the GIP, with each given a mandate of $300 million each. Citibank, N.A. was named as the global custodian.
Five months into the program, the GIP posted an impressive growth in the total value of investments of five percent to P1.245 billion.
