MANILA – Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) president and general manager Jesus Clint Aranas tendered his resignation weeks after the Commission on Audit (COA) called the attention of his office.
Aranas’ resignation was due to personal reasons, according to GSIS vice president Marge Jorillo.
In his letter to President Rodrigo Duterte, Aranas claimed he is leaving his position “without compromising his integrity.”
“I resign secure in the knowledge that I have unwaveringly advanced the interest of GSIS and its members in discharging the functions of the said office always in obeisance to all the laws and never once compromising my integrity or that of the office I now relinquish,” Aranas said in the letter.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said the Office of the President already received Aranas’ resignation letter but it is not clear whether the President had accepted his resignation.
The resignation came following reports on COA’s order for the GSIS to refund P260.5 million in incentives given by the pension fund’s management to its employees, calling them “illegal expenditures.”
The incentives were released to GSIS without authority from Duterte and the budget department, the COA wrote in its response.
Another controversy hounding the GSIS was with the Philippine Ports Authority over the ownership of a 78-hectare lot in Manila, a part of which is being used by global port operator ICTSI.
Aranas was appointed to the position in November 2017, replacing Francisco Duque III, who was appointed Health secretary. Prior to his stint in GSIS, Aranas served as the deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue./PN
