GSIS relaxes policy on survivorship pension

Survivors of deceased pensioners will receive as much as P15,000 per month as the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has issued new guidelines on survivorship pension. The new guidelines state that survivors of deceased pensioners must receive half the salary of a department undersecretary or slightly over P30,000, said the state-owned pension fund for government employees. GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara said the agency based the amount of survivorship pension on the salary of a department undersecretary because it is "the highest career position in government." Surviving spouses were disqualified from getting their monthly benefits if they earn more than the minimum wage rate of national government employees or if they get pension from other institutions. The previous policy, implemented under the term of former GSIS head Winston Garcia, said the surviving spouse must be dependent upon the member or the second beneficiary should not be employed or engaged in any gainful activity. More than 300,000 survivors of deceased pensioners stand to benefit from the new policy. For pensions suspended under the previous policy, the agency will restore the accrued amounts equivalent to the period of suspension, Vergara said. For denied applications to avail of the survivorship pension, surviving spouses are requested to submit their applications for processing and retroactive computation, he added. The GSIS has over 1.7 million members and pensioners. — JE, GMA News