Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella yesterday filed a resolution asking the House Committee on Government Enterprises to conduct an investigation into the pension programs of the Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System, with the aim of increasing the monthly pension of retirees.

The monthly pensions presently being received by retirees from the SSS and GSIS are barely enough to cover their basic needs such as food, housing and medicine, Puentevella said in House Resolution 1202.

These pension rates have remained unchanged for many years now, some retirees are even claiming that they have been receiving the same amount since the time of former President Corazon Aquino, he added. Given the implementation of the Epanded Value Added Tax, the continuing rise in oil prices, the ever increasing cost of basic commodities and utilities such as water and electricity, it is high time that the SSS and GSIS adopt a pension system which equates all these factors into the computation, he said.

"Approximately three million government employees and 24 million private sector workers have entrusted their hard earned money to these fund managers during the earning years of their lives, only to receive a meager pension not even enough to meet their needs upon retirement constitutes an injustice which should be rectified," he said.

The SSS and the GSIS should give assurance that not only are the funds entrusted to them safe but that their members have something to look forward to in the future, he said.

It is also the responsibility of the members of the House by virtue of the trust reposed in us by our constituents that this investigation is carried out and the wishes of our retirees heard, he said.*CPG

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