Corporate Social Responsibility
The GSIS’s corporate citizenship efforts focus on education, environmental protection, cultural promotion, disaster preparedness, and outreach – all creating more opportunities for GSIS employees to give back to society.
On December 12, 2013, as a formal declaration of its social mission and strengthened corporate citizenship, the GSIS Board of Trustees adopted, approved, and confirmed the GSIS CSR Statement and CSR Activities via Board Resolution No. 147.
The CSR Statement reads:
Beyond our primary mandate of managing the pension fund for public servants,
the GSIS recognizes its bigger responsibility towards the society as a whole.
For our members and pensioners,
we will support activities that benefit their children
and the organizations that they are part of.
For our society and the environment,
we will endeavor to promote undertakings in cultural involvement,
environmental awareness and disaster response.
For our employees,
we will encourage and carry out programs that primarily target
their development as well-rounded individuals with varied interests
and involvement in worthwhile causes.
The statement espouses a culture of change in the GSIS and succinctly embodies the overall aspiration to contribute to noble sociocivic endeavors, specifically in the following areas:
EDUCATION
1. GSIS Scholarship Program (GSP)
A total of 400 college scholars, consisting of children or dependents of GSIS members with the lowest salary are selected under the GSIS Scholarship Program (GSP). Under GSP, GSIS will shoulder the scholar’s actual cost of tuition and miscellaneous fees not exceeding Php40,000 per academic year. GSIS has also raised the monthly allowance to Php3,000 from Php2,000.
The number of new scholars was doubled from the previous 200 to provide more children and dependents of low-income GSIS members an opportunity to earn a degree from schools that provide quality education. Of the 400 members, 40 are persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, PTD pensioners, and solo parents.
In response to the K to 12 Program’s transition period, GSP was not only limited to incoming freshmen but included those enrolled in any level of a four- or five year course in schools accredited by the Commission on Higher Education.
Due to the continuing program enhancements since 2012, the drop-out rate substantially fell from 57% to only 5.75%”, President and General Manager Robert Vergara said.
Among these enhancements is the grant of cash incentives for students who will graduate with Latin Honors at Php20,000 for cum laude, Php30,000 for magna cum laude, and Php50,000 for summa cum laude. Of those who graduated in 2016, eight cum laude graduates received Php20,000 each, while one magna cum laude graduate was given Php30,000.
Inquiries on GSP may be directed to the GSIS Corporate Social Advocacies and Public Relations Facilities Department at 976-4970; 479-3600 locals 3414, 3588, or 4495; or emailed to gsisscholarship@gsis.gov.ph.
2. Adopt-a-School Program (ASP) and Support to Brigada Eskwela
ASP provides P200,000 worth of assistance to selected public schools in the country’s poorest provinces or low-income municipalities to meet their most urgent needs. The aid usually comes in the form of support to physical facilities and technology.
ASP is implemented in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd). Since its implementation in 2014, a total of 49 schools have benefitted from the program.
The GSIS has also been supporting DepEd’s Brigada Eskwela, a nationwide voluntary effort that brings together teachers, parents, and the community to do cleanup and repairs in public schools before the school opening. GSIS executives and employees dedicated their weekends to help in repainting classrooms, tables and chairs; clearing and cleaning school gardens; repairing ceiling fans; and donation of desk top computers, artworks, and books and bookshelves for libraries.
ENVIRONMENTAL CARE AND PRESERVATION
The GSIS promotes good stewardship of everything that Mother Earth has entrusted us. Besides holding seminars and other activities on environmental awareness and conservation, it carries out the following activities:
1. Tree Planting
The GSIS’s Green Program is the pension fund’s simplest share in the society’s environmental initiatives.
A move closer towards a greener and healthier Philippines, tree planting has been a priority government thrust in line with the National Greening Program (NGP) under Executive Order No. 26, which President Benigno S. Aquino III signed in February 2011.
The GSIS National Greening Program Oversight Committee (NGPOC) was created in August 2012 to carry out the NGP’s mandate, which requires students and government employees to plant a minimum of 10 seedlings per year to grow 1.5 billion trees in six years.
The GSIS NGPOC started implementing NGP in 2012 in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) by holding tree-planting activities, which were replicated in GSIS branch offices.
Since the issuance of EO 26, the Head Office and branch offices have planted almost 10,000 seedlings in various planting sites in the country.
2. Coastal Cleanup
GSIS employees have consistently volunteered in cleaning Manila Bay of crash and rubbish. The activity aims to increase environmental awareness, promote recycling, and gather information for the development of environment-friendly packaging.
SPECIAL INTEREST LECTURES
Part of the CSR is investing in GSIS employees’ development through special interest lectures, which cover such topics as financial management and health and wellness.
THE GSIS ART COMPETITION
The GSIS Art Competition seeks to create a venue to recognize aspiring artists. Since 2004, the competition has evolved from selecting three best entries each under the Professional and Student Categories to acknowledging first, second, and third prizes for Representational, Nonrepresentational, and Sculpture Categories. To date, the competition attracts as many as 500 entries across the country.
This competition has produced and opened opportunities for such award winning artists as Lynrd Paras, Jaypee Samson, Maximo Balatbat, Ernesto Bagtas, Noel Pama, Orley Ypon, Florentino Impas Jr., Alexander Roxas, Dante Lerma, Rex Tatlonghari, Salvador Ching, and Jerry Morada.
The winning works subsequently form part of the GSIS’s art collection.
The art competition is held in cooperation with the Art Association of the Philippines, the oldest surviving national artist organization in the country.
Interested parties may email museum@gsis.gov.ph