Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) old-age and survivorship pensioners who were unable to comply with the personal appearance requirement or Activation of Pensioners Information Revalidation (APIR) before March 2020 are now allowed to do it online.
GSIS President and General Manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet said that providing an online service for the personal appearance requirement for pensioners is part of the pension fund’s efforts to protect and assist all its pensioners amid the country’s health emergency situation.
“The safety of our elderly pensioners, who are among the most susceptible to COVID-19, remains our top priority. To ensure that all of them receive their pension without letup during the enhanced community quarantine, GSIS has been adjusting its operational procedure,” Macasaet said.
Earlier, GSIS has extended to 15 May 2020 the deadline for pensioners born in March and April to comply with APIR.
Under normal situations, GSIS requires all old-age and survivorship pensioners to report to the nearest GSIS office or GSIS kiosk during their birth month to ensure continued receipt of their pension. It has been a monitoring mechanism to prevent pension overpayment to deceased pensioners.
Despite this concession, according to Macasaet, some pensioners may have failed to undergo APIR even before the program was suspended last March 17.
“We are accepting APIR requirements online because we want our pensioners to stay safe at home during the COVID-19 crisis,” he said.
To comply with the online APIR, pensioners must send via email a letter requesting GSIS to activate their status and send it to an email address designated by GSIS for particular areas.
The letter must indicate the date of request and contain their details, namely, complete name; complete address; contact number (mobile or landline); and signature.
Pensioners must attach to the letter a photo of their UMID or eCard Plus card or their temporary card. In case these are not available, a photo of their two valid IDs may be submitted.
In addition, they must attach a chest-level photo of them holding a current newspaper whose headline and date of publication are prominently displayed. If not, the photo background may be a news crawler or a ticker on the TV showing the current news headline and date. (The date in the photo must coincide with the date of request indicated in the letter.)
Pensioners must send the letter and other requirements to the designated email address according to their place of residence: gsiscares@gsis.gov.ph (for residents of NCR including Quezon City and the entire province of Rizal and Cavite); gsisnorthluzon@gsis.gov.ph (for residents of North Luzon); gsissouthluzon@gsis.gov.ph (for residents of South Luzon; gsisvisayas@gsis.gov.ph (for residents of Visayas) gsismindanao@gsis.gov.ph (for residents of Mindanao).
GSIS will inform concerned pensioners once it has received their documents.
Another online program that GSIS currently made available to assist pensioners in their financial difficulties during the COVID-19 crisis is the GSIS pension loan program. Under the program, pensioners may borrow up to six times their monthly pension but not exceeding Php100,000, depending on their age.
To apply for GSIS pension loan online, pensioners only need to download and fill out an application form from the GSIS website (https://www.gsis.gov.ph/downloadable-forms/) and electronically send it to the email address designated by GSIS according to the place of residence of the pensioner. The application must be sent along with a picture or scanned copy of their GSIS UMID card or ecard or their valid ID (with picture and signature), and the pensioner’s photo holding the duly accomplished application form.
For relevant advisories and other information, interested parties may call the GSIS Contact Center at 8-847-4747; visit the official GSIS website (www.gsis.gov.ph); or like and follow its official Facebook page (@gsis.ph).
