THE action or fact of leaving one’s job and ceasing to work.

For many, however, retirement is merely a change in role. The economic necessity of gainful employment is ever -- present. But the nature of their work may undergo radical change. For some, there is a return to the soil. For example, some executives and civil servants, on retirement, become farmers. In addition to the gratification associated with being self-sufficient, there are the rewards of working for oneself – no irksome constraints, role-playing or minor humiliations concomitant with working in a large and unfeeling bureaucracy.

Cebu inmates' tribute to Michael Jackson
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Pension
- A regular payment made during a person’s retirement from an investment fund to which that person and/or their employer have contributed during their working life.

At least that’s the idea.
But there are disappointments.
    
Last week, Winston Garcia, GSIS president and general manager, stated that P30B in unpaid premiums from various government agencies and units are hampering the GSIS operations as well as its ability to pay out benefits.
    
Well said, Winston!
    
This is an intolerable, untenable situation. But government employees, even in retirement, are steeped in a collegial tradition of not raising their voices, not rocking the boat, not making a fuss. So these people are cajoled, bullied and exhorted to be patient, to be ‘team-player’- whatever that means in this context. They are cheated. And they are cheated with impunity. Where are the auditors? There comes a time when organizational sloth and administrative tardiness moves over the line into the murky world of estafa. Is there anything to stop abused employees from filing charges under Art 315 of the Revised Penal Code?
    
For example, Winston Garcia states that arrears in employers’ remittances stretch as far back as 10-15 years; that 30% of the country’s 8,000 local government units are behind in their payments.
     .
Quezon City has just paid P43 million in payment arrears incurred from 1997 to 2007. According to City Hall, the amount represents P35 million in employer’s share, P6 million in employees’ share and P2M in employees’ compensation.
    
Another disagreeable feature is the desire of an organization to put the employee nearing retirement age in a supplicant position. The PNP seems particularly guilty of this. Many police officers have to spend much, if not all, of their last year of service ‘working on their papers.’ This means that they have to prove their PNP service. This information is readily available at Camp Crame. So why treat a long-serving police officer in this unnecessarily cavalier manner? Do administrators really have a primordial need to be on top?

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Longevity
A fundamental question for both providers and recipients of pensions is: how long will the pensioner live? A learned world of actuarial statistics has been developed to address this issue.
    
In Negros Occidental, according to the NSO, average age at death is 70 years (67.5 for men and 72.5 for women).
    
This does not help much with decisions about pensions for which the real question is: Given that someone survives for 65 years, how much longer has she/he left before shrugging off the mortal coil? The answer, of course, is that it all depends. It may be three weeks, three months, three years or thirty years or more. We are in a situation of uncertainty. Averaging is helpful when determining a fair pension.
    
A current example arises with the appropriate length of incarceration of convicted, New York-based fraudster, 71 year old Bernie Madoff whose Ponzi scheme duped thousands, including famed film director Steven Spielberg and actor Kevin Bacon. Fortunately for us, the fact that these talented individuals have been swindled out of millions of dollars means that they will have to work longer than they planned, especially Bacon who has waxed lyrical on this topic.
    
Anyhow, Madoff’s defense attorney is proposing a sentence of 12 years. This is because the average life expectancy of a convicted 71 year old ‘estafador’ is 13 years (presumably less if the victims are able to get hold of him) and he should have a year out of jail before popping his clogs. The defense attorney is conveniently forgetting that Madoff could easily live for another 20 years or more. The judge may not be an actuarial superstar but it is unlikely that he would accept the defense attorney’s reasoning.
  
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History

As reported earlier in the year, 2009 marked the bicentennial of the births, both on 12 February, of those diverse luminaries, Abraham Lincoln (16th president of the United States) and Charles Darwin, the originator of the theory of evolution by natural selection.
2009 is also the 1700th anniversary of the birth of Decius Magnus Ausonius.
Who he?
    
He was a Roman civil servant who, on retirement, used his GSIS funds to develop a winery near Bordeaux.
    
He was a senior civil servant, administering key provinces in the Roman Empire of the 4th Century. Successively, he held the office of quaestor (Finance Sec), prefect of Latinium and consul of Gaul (now France).
    
Pensions are not new and the Romans had a well-administered GSIS system. On Ausonius’ retirement, he used his GSIS funds to develop a winery on his estate near Bordeaux, South West France. Until now, Chateau Ausonne is noted for its fine red wine.
    
Every now and again, this oenophile raises his glass and toasts the Roman pension system!