PNP says it eliminated ghost pensioners

June 7, 2019

The Philippine National Police ( PNP) on Friday said there are no more ghost pensioners under their organization after they upgraded their system and equipment.

“There have been incidents in the past that there are ghost pensioner but due to our systems development and improvement of our equipment,” said Police Colonel Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson, in a press briefing.

Banac said all ghost pensioners were removed from their list.

“We already eliminated it and filtered out ghost pensioners,” he said.

He added that their Finance Services Office filed cases against fake claimants.

“We had entrapment operations on suspected fake claimants who were under surveillance if they...personally claimed (the money),” said Banac.

To prevent ghost pensioners, the PNP according to Banac became strict on requirements.

“In fact, every year, they are all required to renew documents and renew their records. They have to personally appear for validation of identification,” he said.

The PNP was asked on the issue after the Commission on Audit (COA) said some 5,721 deceased pensioners of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) continued to receive monthly allowance amounting to P70.25 million.

“Comparison of the payroll of pensioners and list of reported deaths for Calendar Year 2018 disclosed that 5,721 or 84.5 percent out of 6,768 total reported deaths continuously received their regular monthly pensions which ranged from one to 65 months, thus resulted in the overpayment amounting to P70,250,300.00,” the COA said. Ella Dionisio/DMS