COA: DepEd yet to remit P4.4 billion premiums, loan payments; DepEd says working with GSIS

The Department of Education (DepEd) has yet to remit P4.47 billion worth of GSIS premium contributions and loan amortizations deducted from the salaries of teaching and non-teaching personnel, the Commission on Audit (COA) said.

In its 2022 annual audit report on the DepEd, headed by Vice President Sara Duterte, state auditors noted the non-remittance of GSIS premium contributions and loan amortizations deducted from salaries affected teaching and non-teaching personnel from the DepEd Central Office and DepEd’s 12 Regional Offices as of December 31, 2022.

“[This is] exposing concerned personnel to penalties/interest that could result in undue limitations in enjoying privileges and benefits conferred under the GSIS law,” the GSIS said.

Region 6 accounted for almost half of the amount with P2.19 billion, followed by Region 9’s P580.8 million.

Region 5 had the third highest amount of unremitted GSIS dues with P508 million, followed by Region 4-A with P200.56 million and Region 3 with P435 million

Rounding up the top 10 DepEd offices with highest amount of unremitted GSIS dues were:

• National Capital Region with P197 million
• Region 4B with P137.97 million
• Region 11 with P64.7 million
• Region 12 with P56 million
• Region 13 with P54 million

The DepEd’s Region 1 office also incurred P19 million worth of unremitted GSIS dues, followed by the Central Office with P11.2 million and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) office with P7.49 million worth of unremitted GSIS dues. 

Only DepEd offices in Regions 2, 7, 8 and 10 did not accumulate any unremitted GSIS dues.

“It is vital for agencies to withhold and remit all monthly premium contributions within the prescribed period in order for members to enjoy and access all privileges and benefits that are due to them,” COA said.

“Thus, the failure by the DepEd Offices to remit the premium contributions deprived their employees of the opportunity to avail of loan privileges, earn yearly dividends and such other benefits offered to all GSIS members thereby causing undue injury to them,” COA added.

COA then called on the DepEd to require its responsible personnel to remit all withheld premium contributions and loan payments to the GSIS within the timelines set to avoid penalties/interests, as well as to enable employees to enjoy the privileges and benefits accruing to members and impose sanctions on employees responsible for the non-remittance thereof.

Of the DepEd offices, only seven Regions responded to COA’s findings: CAR, as well as Regions 1, 3, 4A, 4B, 5 and 10.

The regions vowed to take the following actions:

• issue the Regional Memorandum for the Ad Hoc Committees to prioritize and facilitate the remittances of the unremitted GSIS balances
• assign more trained personnel to handle GSIS remittances and concerns
• update premium contribution payments and employees’ records on a timely basis
• supplemental payroll and clarificatory items to be followed up on the updating of employment status in the Agency Remittance Advice (ARA) in preparation of the remittance of the mentioned balances
• collating data needed to immediately collect and remit the amount due to GSIS, among others.

DepEd working with GSIS

For its part, the DepEd said it has been working with GSIS to resolve the issues “spanning several years.” 

“We have been holding regular/monthly meetings with GSIS in order to address all the issues/concerns of our teachers,” DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa told GMA News Online in a Viber message. 

“In fact, a MOA [memorandum of agreement] between the GSIS and DepEd has been recently signed. In the said MOA, the GSIS has committed to providing account officers that will exclusively cater to DepEd personnel concerns,” he said. 

Poa also reiterated that there are ongoing reconciling activities between the DepEd and the GSIS to address the incident and prevent it from recurring. 

“We have previously responded to the COA observation and have relayed the steps being taken by DepEd. That is why in the same COA report, COA rendered an Unqualified Opinion in favor of DepEd for 2022—a first in DepEd history,” he added. 

In September, the DepEd said it is in the process of addressing the P362-million worth of “unauthorized, unnecessary, and dormant” bank accounts, as well as the deductions from teachers’ salaries for loan payments which have yet to be reflected, with state insurer GSIS. — BM, GMA Integrated News