State pension fund posts 18% increase in assets to P572B

MANILA, Philippines—The government service insurance system has reported an 18-percent jump in its assets in 2009 from a year ago, claiming to have accomplished this financial performance mainly through reforms in the collection of premiums from members.

In a report released to the media, the GSIS said its assets as of end-2009 amounted to P572 billion, up from only P484 billion at the end of the previous year.

GSIS President and General Manager also said in a press conference Friday that the latest asset level had more than tripled from only P181 billion in 2000, the year he assumed the top post as the state-owned pension fund’s manager.

“In 2009, total assets further increased to P572.4 billion, reflecting the success of the reforms that have strengthened the overall viability of the System,” the GSIS said in the report.

Garcia, who has a lot of critics both from the private sector and the government, will end his term on June 30.

The assets of the GSIS, the state-owned firm tasked to provide social security benefits to government workers, include premiums collected from members.

Garcia earlier said one of the major reforms implemented by the GSIS under his term was the adoption of a policy of not granting benefit claims if the required contributions by members were not remitted to the pension fund.

The GSIS had been battered by complaints from some members, led by groups of public schoolteachers who said they could not get social security benefits even if their contributions were regularly deducted from their salaries by their employers.

Garcia said some government agencies had failed to promptly and accurately remit contributions of their employees, and that the GSIS would not shoulder the cost of paying the benefits.

The GSIS has also been criticized by some groups for the alleged slow processing of claims by members. Garcia had shrugged off the criticisms, saying those were just meant to discredit the GSIS for the reforms it had undertaken under his tenure.

Besides the increase in the amount of premium collection, the investments made by the GSIS were also credited for the growth in its assets, Garcia said.

The GSIS chief said the state pension fund posted a net income of P18.5 billion in the first four months of the year, which he attributed to the increase in earnings from its portfolio investments.

The GSIS has investments in fixed-income securities, both issued domestically and offshore, and in local blue chip stocks. –Michelle Remo, Philippine Daily Inquirer