The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines expressed support for Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) officials’ ouster of president and general manager Wick Veloso from office. Agency officials are pushing for his dismissal following the disclosure of GSIS losses amounting to as much as ₱8.8 billion and its investments in illegal gambling operations.

Veloso immediately rejected the proposal for his removal from office. He only had recently returned to his position, along with other officials, last September after the Office of the Ombudsman lifted their temporary suspension for violating agency regulations on investments.

According to ACT Philippines, removing Veloso from the agency is only correct. “His continued stay in office is an outright insult to all government employees, including public school teachers, whose retirement security depends on the sound management of GSIS funds,” ACT Chairperson Ruby Bernardo said.

Public school teachers make up the largest membership base of GSIS. Bernardo stated that nearly one million teachers regularly pay contributions to GSIS from their meager salaries and expect it to secure their future after decades of service in education.

“But under Veloso’s watch, billions of our pesos have been squandered. This is not just financial loss but also a robbery of our hopes, our sacrifices, and our hard-won retirement benefits,” Bernardo added. The teachers’ leader emphasized that this situation is totally unacceptable, especially since they have long been burdened and trapped in debt by GSIS from excessive and unjust interest charges.

ACT called on the GSIS Board of Trustees to ensure investigation transparency and accountability for the losses. The group also urged GSIS to immediately develop a plan to recover the lost funds.

“We will not let this slide. Hold Veloso accountable, recover the lost funds, and stop misusing teachers’ and government employees’ contributions for anomalous purposes,” Bernardo said.

In connection with this, ACT Teachers Partylist Representative Antonio Tinio pushed for an urgent House of Representatives investigation into the GSIS anomalies. He particularly pointed out possible violations of the GSIS’s own investment regulations and the agency’s actual investment placements, including questionable “rescues” of businesses connected to politicians.

Particular transactions that Tinio’s office seeks to investigate include the ₱3.67 billion losses from dual-tranche investments in Monde Nissin, Nickel Asia, Bloomberry Resorts, and DigiPlus Interactive; the ₱1.45 billion investment in Alternergy that led to Veloso’s suspension; the ₱1.2 billion investment in online gambling operator DigiPlus; the proposed ₱456 million investment in Figaro Culinary Group; and investments in “high-risk private equity funds” and the alleged “rescue” of Dennis Uy’s Clark Global City project through his company Udenna Land.

“Are GSIS funds being used by Veloso as the de facto Maharlika fund to support crony businesses? Whose cronies?” Rep. Tinio questioned. GSIS is among the government agencies identified as potential sources of financing for the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).

The MIF has been widely denounced as a potential source of massive corruption by bureaucrat capitalists and large businesses. Marcos and his cronies are believed beneficiares of the largest kickbacks because the fund is concentrated in the president’s hands.