MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has directed the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to manage pension contributions as military and uniformed personnel as part of reforms being planned by the government in their pension system, its chief said on Wednesday.

GSIS President and General Manager Wick Veloso said this means they would invest funds collected for possible adjustments for the pension of military personnel.

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"Kami ang magma-manage, kami ang maghahanap kung paano mapapalago ang pera,” Veloso told reporters.

The GSIS chief added they were also looking into whether or not the agency would also play the role in the disbursement of the funds to pensioners, but said nothing is final as of now.

“Sabi ko sanay na ang iba-ibang government or military agency sa pag-disburse, kailangan lang ng pagma-manage, gusto rin ba nilang ibigay sa amin yon, or gusto nilang iretain yon at ibibigay nalang sa amin?" he said.

"Sa kanila ang kinaukulan so madali naming maaayos ang second part dahil kung ibibigay sa amin ay we won’t reinvent the wheel we will just ask the people who are doing it to be with us, otherwise if they want to do it, pwede naman nilang ibigay pero pwede nilang idistribute sa kani-kanilang myembro,” he said.

“Pero as of now, there is nothing firm on that it is still under discussion, but during the discussion, our role is only as a fund manager.”

STRATEGIC MECHANISM

In his speech during the 86th Anniversary program of the GSIS in Pasay City, the President said “comprehensive multisectoral discussions” are currently ongoing on the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) pension reform.

Marcos stressed the need to “establish the most appropriate and strategic mechanism to get it functioning- or at the very least to start to lay the foundation for the system that will function in the long run.”

He did not elaborate.

The President also thanked the GSIS for their participation in the reform, noting that the agency’s experience on this was important.

“The pension system of our military and uniformed personnel is such a monumental task with all the legal and financial setbacks that it has encountered," he said.

"But we genuinely recognize that it is as important, urgent, and humanitarian as the pension system of all civilian government employees,” he added.

In March, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Marcos would push for reforms on the pension scheme for military and uniformed personnel to prevent a possible "fiscal collapse."

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Diokno noted that for this year alone, the government allotted around P120 to 130 billion for the pension of unformed personnel, which he said was no longer sustainable.