PNP denies deducting pensions of retired cops

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police said Wednesday that it has nothing to do with the deductions in the pensions of police retirees.

Retirees have complained that the deductions in their pensions were too high leaving them almost with no money.

Speaking to reporters, PNP spokesman, Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. said the PNP has turned over to the Land Bank of the Philippines, without deductions, a total of P1.1 billion for the pensions of retired police officers.

Retirees receive their pensions either through the traditional cheque system, or by the recently launched automated pension system. Exactly 44,312 enrolled for the ATM system.

However, out of the 62,061 PNP pensioners nationwide, almost 25 percent, or 10,781 of them, are having issues with deductions in their pensions, which Cerbo said, was only in compliance of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Land Bank of the Philippines and several private lending institutions which authorizes an “automatic deduction” as basis for the payment of retirees’ previous loans.

“The PNP is not deducting anything because the burden of distributing money is not with us. . . we have turned over the bulk of money without deductions to the bank,” Cerbo said, adding that they cannot blame the bank as they were only invoking their MOA with lending institutions “signed by the pensioners themselves.”

Nonetheless, Cerbo said that the PNP is willing to assist affected pensioners.

He said a dialogue between the Land Bank, lending institutions, and the affected pensioners was conducted Tuesday. In the meeting, lending companies were said to have shown their interest in looking into the possibility of considering the concerns of retirees, but added that “problems will be treated individually.”

Cerbo said pensioners may try to negotiate on the system of applying their deductions, or “worst comes to worst, they can always file a case against the bank or lending institutions.”

The amount of a retirees’ pension is based on his or last salary before he or she left the service. The pension will only be cut off once the last dependent listed by the retiree dies. Jamie Marie Elona