One ASAP reason for FOI bill’s enactment

The government, through its Government Service Insurance System, has implemented several laws on retirement insurance benefits (e.g., Republic Act 186 of 1936, RA 660 of 1951, RA 1616 of 1957 which expired in 1977; Presidential Decree 1146 of 1977 which expired in 1997; and the latest, RA 8291 of 1997).

The government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) implemented the Early Retirement Incentive Programs (ERIP) I and II in the early 1980s and 1986, respectively, following the advice of its international creditors in the face of the deep recession during that turbulent “typewriter era” of martial law. In accordance with the rule of law, the program should have been covered by PD 1146 which states that retirement or separation can only be availed of by those in the service after May 31, 1977, but prior to June 24, 1997, and the retirees have rendered at least 15 years of service in order to be entitled to Old Age Pension, or Cash Payment for those with less than 15 years of service.

I applied for retirement under ERIP II effective Jan. 1, 1987, after working with the government for 18 years (1969-1986) without any gap in the remittances of premiums to GSIS by my employers: the University of the Philippines (Diliman) and DBP (Makati).

Based on further information I gathered through the Internet (after being told recently by a GSIS Quezon City staff that I was retired under RA 1616), I realized that DBP grossly violated the law since its ERIP program did not apply to RA 1616 of 1957 which states that to qualify under the mode, a retiree (1) must be in government service on or before May 31, 1977; and (2) has rendered at least 20 years of service regardless of age and employment status. On top of this, since GSIS membership became compulsory through RA 4968, which was implemented in 1969, a gap of at most 12 years (1957-1969) of no remittances of premiums was made the basis for not granting pension by GSIS; instead refund of premiums for at most eight years (1969-1977) was made. Since we only got information from the bank’s board and officers who, like Ferdinand Marcos, manipulated the law in their favor, those of us in the lower-level management and  rank-and-file were enticed to apply for retirement to our disadvantage. It is good that I worked with a nongovernmental organization for another 18 years which entitled me to receive upon retirement the lifetime Social Security System pension. But it has never been good for those retirees disqualified from receiving any lifetime pension.

Even at the present high-tech era, there are pieces of information on public interest hidden by the government from the people. My case is, therefore, one particular example that provides more reason why the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill must be passed if the Aquino administration is seriously committed to social progress and promoting equity, among other imperatives.

—EDMUNDO ENDEREZ,

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