(UPDATED) Around 70 retirees of the Philippine National Bank (PNB) in Davao Region flocked in front of the bank's branch on San Pedro Street corner C.M. Recto Ave., Davao City on November 7, 2023 as part of their nationwide rally.
The nationwide simultaneous rallies of PNB retirees in Laoag, Baguio, Urdaneta (Pangasinan), Metro Manila, Legaspi, Naga, Daet, Sorsogon, Cebu, Tagbilaran, Bacolod, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, and other areas calls out the PNB on its “delaying tactics” to pay their Cost-of-Living Allowances (Cola) and Special Amelioration Allowances (SAA) despite Supreme Court’s order to pay retirees.
Rallying members said the so-called "delaying tactics" of the bank motivated the members to rally.
The issues raised by the groups against the PNB include alleged delaying tactics and non-giving of the cost of living allowance and special amelioration allowance, illegal deduction of GSIS gratuity pay from their separation/ retirement pay, and iniquitous separation/ retirement pay, back when the PNB was still a government bank before its privatization in 1996.
In a court order sent to SunStar Davao, entitled G.R. No. 227573, Philippine National Bank v. Goldelio G. Rivera, et.al., it read that the PNB “was given several opportunities to show how respondents were not entitled to their monetary claims, or how it has no duty to pay the same”, but it stated that the bank had insisted “employing delays, filing unnecessary pleadings, and asking for several postponements”.
The retirees claimed that instead of receiving a one-time gratuity pay for their 20 years of government service, PNB employees who received gratuity pay as a result of the bank's privatization should be granted a lifetime pension.
“Paghimo na sa kadtong separation/ retirement pay, ang among gratuity gi-deduct sa among retirement, so wala mi nadawat sa among government service, gitagaan mig gratuity pay for 20 years of service pero paghatag sa among separation, gi-deduct to so wala mi nadawat sa among government service for 20 years (When the separtion/ retirement pay was prepared, the bank deducted our gratuity pay from our retirement pay. It means we got nothing from our government service. They gave us gratuity pay for 20 years of service but when we received our separation pay, we found out they deducted our gratuity pay from our separation pay),” Nicardo Leopoldo, Davao’s PNB Retiree Association spokesperson, said in an interview with the media on November 7.
In a manifesto, PNB retirees had also urged the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to pay retirement benefits and pension based on the total years of their government service. The participating retirees are mostly between 15 to 30 years in service.
They also asserted that they should be granted a lifetime pension just like government employees who are receiving a monthly pension after rendering at least 15 years of government service, in accordance with the Republic Act Number 8291 or the Revised Government Service Insurance Act of 1977.
Meanwhile, the PNB has yet to provide an official statement addressing the PNB retirees’ concerns. ICE