BAGUIO CITY –– Acknowledging that the Philippine National Police failed to correct flaws in the police pension system, Police General Archie Gamboa is asking for the death certificates of all police officers whose families are receiving benefits to help clean up the pension registry.
The PNP does not have enough manpower to scour the records of all deceased members of the police force and would need to acquire authenticated data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) through a memorandum of understanding, said Gamboa in a Saturday (Feb. 22) news conference after attending the 2020 homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy.
The PNP chief said he was asking PSA if the PNP could automatically receive every death certificate it issues to widows or widowers. “Not unless the relatives submit the documents, we would not possibly know [if a police officer’s widow or widower is entitled to benefits],” Gamboa said.
Gamboa said he may draw up a policy for the automatic termination of suspicious benefits or sanction relatives who fail to update their records.
This week, Gamboa directed the PNP Pension and Retirement Benefits Administration Service to account for all beneficiaries in the country.
The beneficiary families may submit their biometric information and review their records from Feb. 24 to March 17 at local police stations.