The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on Thursday, Dec. 7, reminded pensioners to comply with the Annual Pensioners Information Revalidation (APIR) to continue receiving their benefits.

“Ito ay dapat gawin isang beses lamang kada taon sa birth month ng pensioner upang masiguro ang tuloy-tuloy na pagtanggap ng monthly pension,” President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso said in a GSIS Ginhawa For All episode.

“Dito po, sinisigurado po natin na ang ating pensionado po ay buhay pa. Sapagkat tayo po ay magbibigay ng benepisyo at gusto lang din po natin masiguro po yan,” he added.

With 585,500 pensioners, Veloso said the following should ensure they appear before a GSIS personnel:

• Old age pensioners

• Disability pensioners

• Survivorship pensioners

• Pensioners abroad

The GSIS chief noted that APIR helps the state pension fund ensure that the pensioners are receiving their pensions.

“Ibig sabihin ay napo-protektahan ang ating pondo. Para sa elligible pensioners, kailangan din ang APIR para sa pagbibigay ng milestone benefit,” he explained.

Veloso explained that the milestone benefit is given to pensioners when reaching certain ages, such as receiving P20,000 when they reach 90, P30,000 at 95, and P50,000 at 100.

“Kailangan din nakapag-APIR sa oras para makapag-loan sa enhanced pension loan o emergency loan, makakatanggap ng Christmas cash gift at pension increase,” he added.

Veloso explained how pensioners could comply with APIR, ranging from GSIS kiosks to reporting straight to their office.

“Maraming paraan para makapag-APIR ang isang pensioner. Una, pwede nilang gamitin ang kanilang GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (GW@PS) Kiosks o mag-report personally sa GSIS office,” the GSIS chief said.

“Ang maganda, pwede na rin mag-APIR through facial recognition via GSIS Touch mobile application [...] Ang mobile app ay hindi po available sa mga miyembro o pensionado na kasalukuyang nakatira sa ibang bansa,” he added.

Veloso said they could send a request through their representative at [email protected] or schedule an appointment on Skype for pensioners living abroad.

Pensioners could schedule the APIR in different ways depending on their pensioner type.

“Ang pensioner o ang kanilang representative ay kailangan i-indicate ang mga sumusunod sa email o text: pangalan ng pensioner, birthdate ng pensioner, preferred online channel para sa APIR interview—pwedeng Facebook Messenger, Viber, Skype o Zoom,” Veloso said.

“Kailangan ding ipadala ang mga sumusunod: photo ng UMID temporary e-card plus o kung wala naman ay mag-submit ng at least 2 valid government-issued IDs. Ang original na ip-present during the actual interview,” he added.

Survivorship pensioners must submit a duly-accomplished self-declaration of surviving spouse form of non-marriage, non-cohabitation. This form could be downloaded on the state pension fund’s website.

“Para naman sa disability pensioner, mag-submit ng kopya ng annual medical progress report. Ang GSIS personnel po ang makikipag-ugnayan sa inyo tungkol sa schedule kung kailan gagawin ang APIR,” he explained.