Bill seeks to double survivorship pension for spouses of gov't workers

A bill has been filed in the House of Representatives that aims to significantly increase the survivorship pension for spouses of deceased government officials and employees.

House Bill 7009, authored by SSS-GSIS party-list Rep. Rolando Ledesma Macasaet, proposes amending the Government Service Insurance System Act of 1997.

The proposed legislation seeks to raise the monthly survivorship pension for surviving spouses from 50 percent to 100 percent of the basic monthly pension.

This survivorship pension is intended to provide financial stability to the legal spouse of a deceased pensioner.

Macasaet argued that surviving spouses of private employees under the Social Security System already receive a full monthly pension, and GSIS pensioners' families should not receive less.

The bill aims to address the disparity in pension benefits between surviving spouses of government and private sector employees.