Chiz eyes
expanded pensions for retired gov’t workers
By Office of Senator Chiz
Escudero
September 25, 2012
PASAY CITY – Senator Chiz
Escudero is pushing for a bill granting monthly pensions to retired
government workers upon reaching the age of 70.
Escudero said government
pensioners are provided gratuity under Republic Act 1616. But the law,
which was enacted in 1957, can no longer sufficiently provide for the
needs of the government retirees five years after the retirement age
of 65, he said.
The senator filed Senate
Bill 2106, titled “An Act to Grant Monthly Pension to Government
Retirees under RA 161 Who Have Reached the Age of Seventy Years.”
“The proposal recognizes
that majority of this class of retirees has been living in abject
poverty, and many of them have to depend on dole-outs from close
relatives and friends. Aged government personnel who retired need
monthly pension because at their late age their opportunities of
earning are already almost nil,” Escudero said.
“The lump sum they have
received from RA 1616 was greatly eroded by the economic slump and
high cost of living. Their economic difficulties were aggravated when
the country suffered from devastating effects of natural calamities,”
he added.
Under RA 1616, the gratuity
is payable by the last employer. The employee is also entitled to a
refund of his retirement premiums he paid to the GSIS, personal share
with interest and government share without interest.
The requirements to qualify
are: 1) the retirees must be in government service on or before May
31, 1977; 2) has rendered at least 20 years of service regardless of
age and employment status; and 3) his/her last three years of service
prior to retirement must be continuous, except in cases of death,
disability, abolition or phase out of position due to reorganization.
Escudero’s bill is included
among the 19 consolidated bills in the Senate through SB 2854 under
Committee Report No. 41 by the Government Corporations and Public
Enterprises Committee in the Senate on May 31, 2011.
The consolidated bill is
currently in the period of interpellation.
Two other bills of Escudero
were consolidated in SB 2454. These are SB 2090, which pushes for the
establishment of an education trust fund for the grantees of GSIS and
SSS members, and SB 2093, which seeks to provide both teaching and
non-teaching personnel of the education sector more representation in
the GSIS policy-making body with the inclusion of the Department of
Education Secretary.