IN a letter to President Duterte, Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President and General Manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet reported that the state pension agency has already released the life insurance proceeds plus the additional P500,000 benefit to families of four government frontliners who succumbed to
Covid-19.
Macasaet said in his report that the GSIS recently released a total of P7.8 million in life insurance benefits plus an additional P2 million in benefits to legal heirs of the government medical frontliners who died of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (Covid-19). He added the agency is “currently in the process of validating the insurance claims of 18 other claimant-families.”
In his letter, Macasaet also assured the executive branch that GSIS will accelerate the insurance claims process for the families of other Covid-19 victims among government frontliners.
“Once we have all the documentary requirements, we commit and assure that GSIS will release their insurance checks within two work days,” he said.
Macasaet added that the GSIS is “constantly coordinating” with the Department of Health (DOH) to assist the claimants in obtaining the required documents to facilitate the release of their insurance claims within two days.
As GSIS members, all medical frontliners in government are covered by the compulsory life insurance program of GSIS. In addition to this, GSIS will grant an additional P500,000 to families of public health frontliners who died after treating or serving patients who are infected by the virus.
Macasaet said the GSIS “automatically covers all frontliners in government who are providing assistance to Covid-19 patients at DOH; treatment and rehabilitation centers; and medical centers and hospitals including those administered by local government units and state universities and colleges.”
He added that the beneficiaries are not limited to doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers but also extends to medical technologists and technicians, janitors, security guards, ambulance drivers and the like – “as long as they can prove that their job involved regular exposure to Covid-positive patients.”
The BFF beneficiaries stand to receive an average of more than P1 million each, including their GSIS regular life insurance.
“This is the least that we can do to show our appreciation to our modern-day heroes who risked their lives in the service of our nation,” Macasaet said.