Retire and die (1)

The Philippine retirement law, Republic Act 1616, as amended by Republic Act 4968, is what many term as the “lump sum take-all without pension even after five years.”

On 9 November 2001, I received a copy of the letter from the director of the Human Resource Office of the Commission on Audit, or CoA, to the branch manager of the Government Service Insurance System stating that my retirement under the above-stated law had been approved.

I served CoA for 40 years, three months, and three days, retiring as State Auditor V with a salary grade of 26 and an unblemished record.

Approval of my retirement entitled me to receive “a refund of my personal retirement premium paid with interest and government share without interest.”

Most of those who retired under this law in 2001 and earlier are already dead or are either dying or suffering a life of poverty and deprivation.

I refused to die.

I defied deprivation by writing a book, producing “atsara,” selling our lots, through consultancy, and finally by becoming a columnist for Daily Tribune.

“Retirement without a regular pension is a big disadvantage in life.”

An envious, ignorant, and mean man with the mental incapacity of an idiot insulted me: “I spent the inheritance of my wife when I went to Europe in 1972 and to New York in 1981.”

I went to Europe when my wife was still a kid. I went to New York in 1981 when we did not even know each other yet. I married her in 1995.

Being insulted is one of the annoyances experienced by retirees under RA 1616.

“Section I, Declaration of Policy: The Constitution provides that the State shall, from time to time, review to upgrade the pensions and other benefits due to retirees of both the government and private sector.”

To this end, Senator Chiz Escudero filed Senate Bill 2106 titled An Act to Grant Monthly Pension to Government Retirees under RA 1616 Who Have Reached the Age of Seventy Years.

“The proposal recognizes that the majority of this class of retirees have been living in abject poverty, and many of them have to depend on dole-outs from close relatives and friends. Aged government personnel who retired need monthly pensions because, at their late age, their opportunities to earn money are almost nil,” Escudero said.

“The lump sum they had received under RA 1616 was greatly eroded by the economic slump and high cost of living. Their economic difficulties were aggravated when the country suffered from the devastating effects of natural calamities,” he added.

The RA 1616 retirees are praying that Senator Escudero shall reactivate his initiative and his noble intention.

Here is how I defied death:

On 30 June 2014, I wrote Senator Ralph G. Recto, telling him that “although a retiree, I am not receiving a pension because I retired under the 1957 retiree law, Republic Act 1616.”

“Please allow me to sell for only P200 per copy to you and your staff my English book entitled, “Write It Right,” I said.

The next day I received a call from the finance director of Senator Recto, requesting 10 copies of my book. That was the quickest response to my request.

If the way Senator Recto responded to my request were to be an indication of his performance as the secretary of Finance, then indeed the country’s fiscal administration is in good hands.

Recto is President Bongbong Marcos’ wizard with magical powers, like a software package that automates complex tasks.

He was the brains behind the value-added tax, a form of sales tax on consumption levied on the sale, barter, exchange, or lease of goods or properties and services, and on the importation of goods into the Philippines.

(To be continued)