The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) was established on November 14,1936, during the Commonwealth of the Philippines, in response to the growth in government service arising from an upsurge in patriotism and nationalism, after being a colony for 400 years. As the Social Insurance Fund Administrator for the Philippine government, the GSIS provides protection to its members against the occurrence of certain contingencies such as death, disability, separation, unemployment and retirement on the basis of their monthly compensation. GSIS active members and old-age survivorship pensioners now total more than 1.7 million.
In the 50s, the government provided additional modes of retirement under Republic Act No. 660 and Republic Act 1616 which were passed on June 16, 1951 and May 31, 1957, respectively.
On August 4, 1969, a health insurance program (Philippine Medical Care Plan) administered by the GSIS was created for all government employees under Presidential Decree 6111.
In the 70s, two important codes were instituted that improved the protection of workers in the country, namely, the Labor Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree 442 dated May 1, 1974) which provided a system of retirement benefits and pension for its workers and employees, and the Insurance Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree 612 dated December 18, 1974) that regulated the policies of all insurance companies and systems in the country. Also an important milestone in this decade is the passage of the Revised GSIS Act that amended, expanded, increased, and integrated the social insurance benefits of all government employees.
On January 16, 1981, Presedential Decree 1814 further amended Sections of PD 1460 which aimed to consolidate and codify all the insurance laws of the Philippines.
The decade of the 90s saw further strengthening of the existing laws governing insurance. In particular, the passage of Republic Act 8291, or the GSIS Act of 1997. This act further amended and modernized the System and provided new modes of retirement.
On its 75th year, the new GSIS re-affirms its social mission, emphasizing the reason for the existence of the institution – to take care of government workers in their retirement and old age and to enhance the capacity of GSIS to secure the benefits of the next generation of government workers as well.
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