NAPOCOR RETIREES SOON
TO GET PENSIONS
(From The Manila Times.net)
By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo

       THE benefits of retirees and qualified separated employees of state-owned National Power Corp. have been restored, six months after state-run Government Service Insurance Sytem suspended them.

       In a letter to GSIS, Froilan Tampinco, Napocor president, apprised the pension fund's President, Robert Vergara, of the SC decision in the case of Enrique U. Betoy vs. the Napocor board of directors, which clarified an earlier High Tribunal decision in the case of Herrera, et. al. vs. Napocor.

       The cases stemmed from the workforce retirement/separation caused by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, which called for the restructuring of the once state-controlled power sector by separating Napocor's generation business from its transmission function. The Epira mandated the sale of at least 70 percent of Napocor's power plants, and the same proportion of its contracted capacity with third-party power suppliers, or the so-called independent power producers.

       In May, GSIS suspended the retirement and separation packages of more than 8,000 Napocor employees affected by EPIRA after a previous SC decision—the so-called Herrera case—ruled they were not qualified for the pension fund's benefits. The SC, however, released an en banc decision on the Betoy case, which the Commission on Audit supported, paving the way for the restoration of the benefits.

       "Given the explicit declaration of the Highest Tribunal of the land, which effectively, removes any doubt as to the applicability of the Herrera doctrine, [Napocor] earnestly requests the immediate restoration of the pension of its affected retirees," said Tampinco in his letter to Vergara.

       "We trust that the GSIS will hold true its commitment to immediately resume payment of pensions of retirees who have been deprived of the enjoyment of same for the last six months. Hence we request that the back pension (from date of stoppage until October 2011) of all affected retirees be processed and paid within October 2011," Tampinco added.

       In his letter to the Napocor president, Vergara vowed to immediately resume the payment of separation and retirement benefits, old age pensions and survivorship pensions to employees and dependents of the employees retired and separated when the EPIRA took effect.

       "The corresponding amount due as a result of the suspension, that is from May to October 2011, shall be credited to their account on 17 October 2011. GSIS will be directly communicating with the affected employees or their dependents to inform them of such developments at the soonest possible time," Vergara said.