GSIS earns overall excellent rating under anti-red tape act

GSIS building in Naga City (Wikimedia Commons)

MANILA — State pension fund obtained an overall average excellent rating of 93 percent — stepping up from a failed rating in 2012 — under the Anti-Red Tape Act (Republic Act 9485) -Report Card Survey (ARTA-RCS) administered by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in 2014.

Thirty eight GSIS offices earned an excellent rating for providing exemplary service to its members and pensioners while 19 other GSIS branch offices garnered good ratings in the survey.

ARTA-RCS is a mechanism used by CSC to obtain clients’ feedback and assess agencies’ performance on frontline service delivery.

CSC reported that for this year, only a fifth out of more than 1,000 agencies covered by the survey merited an excellent score.

“We are honored by this recognition given to us by the institution mandated by the state to promote professionalism and integrity in government service,” said GSIS president and general (PGM) manager Robert G. Vergara.

“Over the years, we have been focusing our efforts on creating a more responsive service for our 1.8 million members and pensioners”.

GSIS has implemented various reforms that make it easier for its stakeholders to claim their benefits. Retiring members now submit fewer documents and need only to provide GSIS a certificate of Pendency/Non-Pendency of Case instead of submitting separate clearances from CSC, Office of the President and Office of the Ombudsman.

Furthermore, soon-to-be retirees can now change their retirement date, mode, and benefit option provided they have not yet been paid their retirement benefit.

Other measures carried out by GSIS this year included the issuance of a policy to make it easier for retired members and those past the retirement age to request a change in the date of birth, and the adoption of policies on constructive notices of funeral benefit upon filing of survivorship or death benefit claims (and vice versa), as well as permanent total disability benefit upon filing of retirement claims.

“The constructive notices simply mean that for as long as members filed the necessary claims, they can still avail of related benefits even after the four-year prescription period,” Vergara said.

These reforms are in addition to the cancellation in 2011, of the Annual Renewal of Active Status (ARAS), under which local old-age and disability pensioners, except those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and those based abroad, now continually receive their pension without traveling annually to any GSIS office to prove they are still alive.

Since 2010, the System continues to bring its services closer to its members and pensioners with 57 branch offices, 57 service desks, 981 GSIS Wireless Automated Processing (GW@PS) kiosks, and over 1,000 ATMs of its partner-banks nationwide. Thirty portable GW@PS kiosks are available for deployment in times of calamities.

Two weeks ago, GSIS renewed an agreement with Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) on the continued deployment of 26 GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (GWAPs) kiosks currently operating in various Robinsons malls. In addition, eight kiosks will be installed in Antipolo, Las Pinas, Cebu, Jaro, Iloilo,Tagum, Davao, General Trias, Cavite, Tuguegarao and San Pedro, Laguna.

“We are exploring partnerships with other commercial establishments to further expand the reach of our services,” said Vergara.

A contact center, with telephone number 847-4747, was likewise fully launched in mid-2013 to attend to members’ concerns or queries.

“The challenge now is for us to not only sustain what we have accomplished but to continue to raise the bar of responsive service delivery,” said Vergara.