PNP to file cases against more than 1,000 unqualified pensioners

June 1, 2020

The chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday warned that they will file cases against more than 1,000 unqualified pensioners who continuously claim  from the PNP Pension Fund.

“More than 1,000 unqualified pensioners continuously claim from the Philippine National Police Pension Fund. We have identified them in the nationwide accounting of the police organization’s pensioners and we will immediately purge the list to clean the records once and for all.” General Archie Francisco Gamboa said.

“Cases will be filed against individuals and groups perpetrating these fraudulent claims.  The PNP will exhaust all legal means to recover lost pension funds paid to ineligible claimants,” he added.

The PNP chief said, based on the report  by the Police Retirement Benefits Administration Service (PRBS), a total of 1,027 pensioners were discovered to be no longer eligible based on grounds stipulated under the mandate of the PRBS.

According to Police Major General Reynaldo Biay, director for Personnel and Records Management and concurrent overall supervisor of the nationwide accounting, these pensioners were either deceased, remarried or have reached the age of majority.

Earlier, Gamboa ordered the regional directors of the 18 Police Regional Offices (PROs) to take the lead role in the nationwide accounting of more than 21,000 pensioners who were not able to update their status in 2019 and also failed to avail of the initial nationwide accounting which started last February.

He stressed the need to ensure that government funds are disbursed efficiently and transparently, particularly in times of crisis.

Due to the restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the PNP launched pensioner track-care teams from the PROs to seek out the identified pensioners, instead of asking them to present themselves before the PRBS for accounting.

The track-care teams were instructed to adhere to the community quarantine guidelines and protocols since most of these pensioners belong to the vulnerable age groups identified by the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Since May 18, a total of 7,388 pensioners were accounted for by PROs' track-care teams where 1,027 were found to be no longer eligible for claims.

Among those disqualified were beneficiaries who died in 2012 or have re-married as far back as 2003 and continued to claim pension.

The whereabouts of some 1,023 beneficiaries can no longer be established while 11 names were found to have been duplicate entries.

PRBS acting director  Police Colonel Arthur Bisnar said the accounts of these disqualified and unaccounted pensioners with Landbank, through which they receive their benefits, have been tagged and put on hold, and deleted from the pensioner alphalist.

“This means that pensions will continue to be credited in these Landbank pension accounts but these funds cannot be withdrawn until such time that the account owner has updated their status with PRBS,” Bisnar said.

He said qualified pensioners who cannot be located by reason that they were stranded or severely affected by the ongoing pandemic should immediately contact the PRBS through its hotline.

The pensioner track-care teams are still seeking 10,260 unaccounted beneficiaries before the deadline by Gamboa lapses on June 7. Ella Dionisio/DMS