By Gladys Pino/PNA
CALAMBA CITY, Laguna — The regional director of the National Economic Development Authority of Region 4-A has expressed full support to a bill seeking to lower the retirement age of government workers to 56, instead of 60, saying it would improve the government bureaucracy.
“Its win-win effect includes providing the available job to those who need it—the young, the fresh graduates, and the idealists, while giving those who are done and content to leave the government service,” NEDA Region 4-A Director Luis G. Banua explained.
House Bill 8683, which seeks to amend Section 13-A (Conditions of Entitlement) of Republic Act 8291 or the Government Service Insurance Act of 1997, sets the age of retirement at 56. The bill was approved on third and final reading at the House of Representatives on Monday, (Dec. 10), garnering a unanimous vote of 206.
The proposed amendment provides that a government employee, who has had at least 15 years of government service and 56 years old at the time of retirement, should be entitled to retirement benefits as long as he or she is not receiving a monthly pension from permanent total disability.
Once enacted into law, it will give way to government workers, who are nearing 60 and feel less productive at work, the option to retire.
“Baka gusto na nyang magpahinga or baka gusto nyang magbago ng trabaho sa buhay, baka magnegosyo, may puhunan sya, may skill, e baka hindi nya nagawa nuon e me chance sya ngayon (If one wishes to retire or change a career or put up a business, or do something he couldn’t do in the past, he or she would have the capital and skill and the chance to do it now),” Banua said.
The early retirement option will also give chance to those who feel less productive or not happy with their work anymore but are waiting for the mandatory age of 60, he added.
“Hindi naman mandatory, option lang ito (This is not mandatory, only an option), as there are still government workers who still feel productive and want to work until the retirement age of 60,” he pointed out.
However, Banua said he is for the gradual implementation of the proposed law, considering the financial concerns of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
He said although the proposed law might boost the bureaucracy, it is also important to give the state pension provider enough time to have the needed funds for the proposed change.
