COA flags GSIS, SSS for P12.6-B worth of delayed contribution postings

State pension funds Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security Systems (SSS) had delayed postings of their members' updated contributions worth P12.6 billion resulting to inaccuracies in the amounts of premiums they paid, according to the 2016 audit report of the Commission on Audit (COA).

In its annual financial report on government-owned and controlled corporations, COA said GSIS had P11.5 billion in "undistributed collections," while SSS had around P1.1 billion.

COA said these undistributed collections, which represents the "collections of premiums and/or loans to the individual account of members pensioners/borrowers, affected the accuracy of members' data recorded in the subsidiary ledgers" of GSIS and SSS.

The latest GSIS figure, which was recorded under "accounts for clearing," was four times higher than the P2.7 billion worth of undistributed collections it had in the 2015 COA report.

SSS, on the other hand, improved its standing with regard to the uncredited premiums compared to the P9.9 billion worth of undistributed collections in 2015.

State auditors flagged GSIS, the pension fund for government employees, saying the delayed posting of collections causes the lowered benefits of some of its members.

“The member’s period with paid premiums (PPP) is the basis in computing the retirement benefits. In case of underpayment of premium, only such portion of the service that is proportionately equivalent to the amount actually received by the system shall be recognized as PPP,” COA said.

For SSS, the pension fund for private-sector employees, COA said its failure to credit the updated collections of its members “will result in inaccurate loan balances, if not corrected, may result in erroneous amount of benefit claim or delay in receipt of benefit claim.”

“Inasmuch as the SSS have identified the (employers) and their SBR (special bank receipt) numbers and dates, these employers should have been immediately informed. These employers and member-borrowers may not have known that their payments were not recorded or deducted from their loans,” COA said.

GMA News Online is contacting SSS and GSIS for comment as of posting time.

Pag-IBIG and other agencies

Aside from GSIS and SSS, COA also called out three housing agencies and the Armed Forces' pension fund for their undistributed collections in the audit report.

These are the Home Development Mutual Fund or the Pag-IBIG Fund (P604.1 million), the Social Housing Finance Corp. (P440.3 million), National Home Mortgage and Finance Corp. (P118.5 million), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Retirement and Separation Benefits System (P5.7 million).

COA recommended all firms to "post the undistributed collections to the specific subsidiary ledger account" of each of their members and "conduct continuous clean-up of the undistributed collections accounts to minimize its accumulation and adjust affected accounts accordingly."

COA furnished copies of the audit report to the offices of President Rodrigo Duterte, Senate President Koko Pimentel, and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on September 25. —KG, GMA News