GSIS extends deadline for pensioners

State-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has extended the deadline until the end of this month for its old-age and survivorship pensioners to comply with the Annual Pensioners’ Information Revalidation (APIR) requirement.

In a statement, Jesus Clint O. Aranas, GSIS president and general manager said that APIR’s cut-off date was moved to July 31 to give more time to the pensioners to report at the pension fund’s office nearest them.

Aranas also said that pensioners can use the GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (GWAPS) kiosk to activate their status and prevent their pension from getting suspended.

Under APIR, GSIS old-age and survivorship pensioners must personally appear in the GSIS office or reactivate their status through a GSIS kiosk during their birth month to ensure continuous receipt of their pension.

As of 10 July 2018, 65 percent of 333,635 pensioners who are required to undergo APIR have already renewed their active status.

Aranas said that APIR essentially seeks to plug financial leaks caused by overpaid pensions to demised pensioners and thus ensure a healthy and sustainable pension fund for present and future GSIS members and pensioners.

GWAPS kiosks are installed in GSIS offices; provincial capitols; city halls; selected municipal offices; large government agencies, such as the Department of Education; Robinsons Malls; and selected SM City branches in Mall of Asia, North EDSA, Manila, Pampanga, Cebu, and SM Aura in Taguig.

Recently, GSIS implemented a threemonth reactivation period from March 23 to June 30, 2018, during which all pensioners aged 79 and below, regardless of birth month, submitted themselves to the information revalidation process and reactivation of status.

APIR caravans were also conducted in selected municipalities nationwide to bring GSIS’s services closer to pensioners. Announcements on APIR were also made through text messages as well as in newspapers, television and radio stations.

Those who are not required to report for APIR are permanent total disability pensioners; pensioners who are at least 80 years old; legal guardians (who are not survivorship pensioners) of incapacitated or dependent children; and old-age pensioners who are active GSIS members at the same time.

Also excluded from APIR are pensioners residing abroad and in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao areas, as they have been continuously subjected to the GSIS’s annual renewal process.

If pensioners are unable to report for APIR due to health reasons, they shall submit to GSIS two requirements for home visit: letter of request and a medical certificate or barangay certification that the pensioner is a bonafide resident of the area.