Senate okays bill granting survivorship benefits to children of deceased retired officials of constitutional offices

The Senate has approved today on third and final reading a bill seeking to grant survivorship benefits to dependent children of a deceased retired official of constitutional offices, who is a solo parent, or the surviving parents or nominated persons of the deceased retiree.

Senate Bill No. 1917 was approved with 13 affirmative votes, zero negative vote and no abstention.

Senator Antonio "Sonny" Trillanes IV, chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation and sponsor of the bill, said currently, Republic Act No. 10084 only provides benefits to the surviving legitimate spouse of the deceased retired officials of the Commission on Audit, Civil Service Commission, Commission on Elections, and the Ombudsman.

He said the law does not recognize the circumstances of a deceased official who may be unmarried or who may be a solo parent.

To address this gap, Trillanes said SBN 1917 seeks to amend RA 10084 and extend the survivorship benefits to the dependent children of an official who is a solo parent, or the surviving parents, or up to two nominated persons of the deceased retiree who died without issue.

Once the proposed legislation is passed into law, he said the dependents would be entitled to receive on a monthly basis all the retirement benefits that the deceased retiree was receiving at the time of his or her death.

According to Trillanes, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is in full "accord with the passage of the bill."

Sen. Loren Legarda, who introduced the bill, said SBN 1917 recognizes the "emerging nuances in the set-up of modern-day Filipino families, and heeds the call for fairness and equality to the deceased members of the constitutionally-created offices who were unmarried or were solo parents.

She said the measure had been passed in the Lower House.

"Through this bill, we would be able to help correct this apparent oversight in the law and uplift the plight and improve the welfare of the families who would be left behind by the retired officials of the constitutional offices," Trillanes said.