Billions of GSIS, Pag-ibig contributions unremitted, says Drilon

About P2.15 billion worth of payments for contributions and loan amortizations are still not remitted to Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Pag-ibig Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) in Mindanao, a senator revealed. Senator Franklin Drilon disclosed that the past government of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) failed to pay GSIS members’ contribution since 1997, noting that P907 million of the total amount corresponds unpaid shares in GSIS and Pag-ibig Fund premium and loan amortizations. “The bigger portion of P1.24 billion refers to interests that accrued over the years due to the non-and late payments... This is a ghost of the past that continues to haunt us,” Drilon told senators in a committee hearing of ARMM budget in the Senate last week. Drilon explained the future budgets to be allocated for ARMM would be used to pay for the interest rates alone should the government fail to address the matter as soon as possible. Citing documents from ARMM acting governor Mujiv Hataman’s documents, Drilon said ARMM incurred P877.25-million unremitted payments to GSIS in 1997 to 2003 and another P213.13 in 2004. He noted the figures are on top of P877.24 million that corresponds to unremitted GSIS loan deductions for 17 months from 2001 to 2004 and another P243.83-million fun for the unremitted Pag-ibig Fund contributions and loan amortizations. “The situation merits an investigation. It has to be settled before a similar case blows up in our face,” Drilon said. The Senate Committee on Finance chair added this has been “a source of disappointment and burden for teachers and retired personnel of the Department of Education in the ARMM.” ARMM because they could not avail of their GSIS and Pag-IBIG benefits like housing and salary loans due to the discrepancies in the premiums," stressed Drilon. "This sorry scenario continues to frustrate our teachers in the ARMM because they could not avail of their GSIS and Pag-IBIG benefits like housing and salary loans due to the discrepancies in the premiums," Drilon said Jamar Kulayan, regional head of Department of Education (DepEd) in ARMM, told Drilon retire teachers receive an amount that is less than their pension due to reductions in creditable service in a letter. Kulayan revealed DepEd in ARMM owed the Philippine Public School Teachers Association (PPSTA) an amount of P31.93 million, which corresponds to the unremitted loan payments for the period of April 2003 to September 2005. In 2006, Congress was able to appropriate P250 million for the payment of unpaid contributions but Drilon noted the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) was only able to release P127 million as payments.