GSIS releases benefits to kin of 4 gov’t frontliners who died of COVID-19

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has released P7.8 million in life insurance benefits to the families of four government medical workers who succumbed to COVID-19.

In a letter addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday, GSIS president and general manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet said aside from the life insurance proceeds, the state pension agency has also given the four government frontliners’ beneficiaries an additional P500,000 benefit under its Bayanihan Fund for Frontliners.

Macasaet also assured Duterte that the GSIS will accelerate the claims process for the families of other COVID-19 victims among government frontliners.

“We are currently in the process of validating the insurance claims of 18 other claimant-families,” he said.

“Once we have all the documentary requirements, we commit and assure the president that GSIS will release their insurance checks within two work days.”

Macasaet said the GSIS is constantly coordinating with the Department of Health (DOH) to assist the claimants in obtaining the required documents to facilitate the release of their insurance claims within two days.

The GSIS also explained that being members of the state pension fund, all government health workers who are employed in the DOH, treatment and rehabilitation centers and medical centers and hospitals including those administered by local government units and state universities and colleges are automatically covered by its life insurance program.

“The beneficiaries are not limited to doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers but also extends to medical technologists and technicians, janitors, security guards, ambulance drivers and the like – as long as they can prove that their job involved regular exposure to COVID-positive patients,” Macasaet said.

Moreover, the GSIS will also grant an additional P500,000 under its BFF program to the families of public health frontliners who died of COVID-19 after treating or serving patients infected with the illness.

BFF beneficiaries stand to receive an average of more than P1 million each, including their GSIS regular life insurance.

“This is the least that we can do to show our appreciation to our modern-day heroes who risked their lives in the service of our nation,” Macasaet said. --Ma. Angelica Garcia/KBK, GMA News