State-fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has assessed a popular high-end restaurant P25 million as back rentals since 2010 aside from a court petition to vacate as part of efforts to recover lost revenues of the government from properties it owns, GSIS president and general manager Jesus Clint Aranas told the Daily Tribune.

Expect more eviction cases on government properties, Aranas said, adding the campaign of the state pension fund is in line with measures to enhance revenue collections.

Aranas said GSIS “will be actively pursuing the possession and disposition of assets that are non-performing.”

The latest to be handed a GSIS ejectment case was the branch of Gloria Maris Shark’s Fin Restaurant at the Cultural Center of the Philippines compound in Pasay City.

The GSIS recently filed an eviction complaint before the Pasay City Metropolitan Trial Court.

The complaint also seeks a “reasonable compensation” of P260,000 per month starting from June 30, 2010 which was the deadline for the restaurant to vacate the lot as well as P500,000 for litigation and attorney’s fees or a total of around P25 million.

“Our ejection is premised on the fact that we do not have an existing contract with Gloria Maris,” Aranas said.

The restaurant had a lease contract only from Jan. 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2007. Aranas said the lease was not renewed but GSIS allowed it to “continue occupying the premises on a month-to-month rental basis to allow it sufficient time to relocate.”

The agency had signed a joint venture with Megaworld Corp in 2010 to build a condominium in the property Gloria Maris occupies.

Earlier this year, GSIS had also sent a notice to vacate to Philippine Plaza Holdings Inc. (PPHI) for alleged unpaid rentals of two lots adjacent to Sofitel.

“There were four lots being occupied by Sofitel. Lots 19 and 41 are not part of the contract. [Lots] 19 and 41 remain unpaid. That’s why we’re evicting them. We’re not evicting the hotel,” he said.

“They’ve not been paying us for the past several decades and as a responsible steward of GSIS, it really behooves upon me to really collect on this one,” Aranas said.

PPHI released a statement that said the claims of GSIS for unpaid back rentals were without basis. It claimed the company has a valid contract until 2041 and that it has been “paying rent in accordance” with the lease contract and agreement.

The parties entered into lease contracts which included the original contract of lease in 1990, the amended contract of lease in 1991, and the renewal of the amended contract of lease in 2016.

Aranas said they’re expecting to collect “not less than P147 million” in back rentals from PHHI.

Aranas has been busy since taking office late last year.

He said it has been a steep learning curve from his transfer from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Aranas is a tax lawyer since 2016 and had stints in auditing giant SGV as well as being the founder of his own law firm in 2003 until he was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as Deputy Commissioner of the BIR to lead the agency’s Legal and Inspection Group in 2016.

“My heart is to protect the fund and not to be politically correct.”

“It’s a steep learning curve because of nuances in handling securities, insurance, social pension is very different. In the past you’re the one imposing taxes. This one, we have a different component. We are very profit-oriented, but revenue-generating for the fund so it remains healthy,” he explained.

He further said about the agency’s fund: “Conservatively speaking, we have a fund life of 35 years doing nothing. We are performing better than any other social fund in Southeast Asia, Asia and the world.”

Aside from going after non-performing assets, Aranas said GSIS is working on looking after the pensioners’ money.

“The ultimate idea is who owns the fund? Not the government but the contributors who someday will become our pensioners. Then we have to protect the fund. It’s the concept of stewardship. So we have to identify leakages. We identified P1.6 billion in losses from bogus pensioners,” he said.

A GSIS report cited 48,843 deceased pensioners with overpayment. The agency has 1,720,684 active members as of March 2018.

Aranas said he revived a program that will show proof of life. The Annual Pensioner’s Information Revalidation or APIR is similar to the ARAS or the Annual Renewal of Active Status which, he said, was stopped in 2011.

GSIS started APIR in March. To date, there are 338,220 pensioners who need to revalidate their status under APIR. As of April 19, only 78,032 or 23.07 percent of the pensioners were revalidated. The program will end this month.

Aranas said there was no excuse for the pensioners not to show up because the program had been much publicized. They asked their pensioners aged 79 and below to show up while members who are 80 years old and above and those with mental and physical disability will be visited by GSIS personnel to validate their membership.

Aranas said Skype sessions are conducted for those living abroad.

Aranas said he will automatically suspend pensions of individuals who are not revalidated through APIR but if pensioners will show up and prove the authenticity of their claim, they can still get their pensions.

“My warning to those people who will not cooperate with this one is, my heart is to protect the fund and not to be politically correct. I will immediately suspend payments to pensioners who will not appear or not bother to call us,” he issued.

Another program the agency is focusing on is a loan program for teachers.

GSIS and the Department of Education (DepEd) signed an agreement on April 16 that will facilitate the payment of loans of teachers and other personnel of DepEd from private lending institutions through a loan facility from GSIS.

The GSIS Financial Assistance Loan (GFAL) offers to members up to P500,000, provided their take-home pay will not go lower than P5,000 after their monthly obligations have been deducted. The loan is payable in monthly installments for six years at 6 percent interest rate per annum computed in advance.