MANILA, Philippines -- The Government Service Insurance System on Saturday denied that the state workers’ pension fund had big exposures in the troubled US financial sector but refused to release a detailed financial statement on its $600 million (P28 billion) Global Investment Program.

GSIS spokesperson Estrella Elamparo said the GSIS would not be pressured by vested interest groups into coming up with a detailed financial listing or mark-to-market valuation of its global investment program or GIP although it would welcome any congressional inquiry on the matter.

Elamparo said a mark-to-market valuation, as demanded by some quarters, would not do justice to the GIP at present as it cannot be expected to immediately provide GSIS a windfall, having started only last year.

In accounting and finance, mark-to-market valuation is the act of assigning a value to a position held in a financial instrument based on current market price.

In a statement replying to questions e-mailed by the Inquirer, Elamparo said the GSIS global fund was being managed by ING Investment Management and Credit Agricole Asset Management of Singapore. Both firms now manage $300 million each.

Elamparo lamented that some sectors were trying to create the wrong impression that the state workers pension fund has a big exposure in the American market.

“That's just not true and the GSIS is not inclined to further comment on assertions that have no basis,” she said.

Earlier, the GSIS denied having invested in embattled US firms Lehman Brothers and American International Group.

“The GSIS will not be pressured into a knee-jerk reaction based on wrong assumptions on GIP or just because vested-interest groups are making a lot of noise," she said.

The GSIS, she said, has taken “every necessary move to ensure” the success of its overseas investment program. She said a rigid selection process had short-listed only those fund managers with at least US$100 billion in managed assets.

Elamparo, also concurrent chief legal counsel of the GSIS, said fund managers are required to comply with the absolute annual return requirement of at least eight percent and a ceiling of seven percent on portfolio volatility.

Elamparo said GSIS executive vice president Enriqueta Disuanco has expressed the agency's readiness to face any congressional investigation of its policies.

The GSIS is the top government-owned and-controlled corporation, with 441.8 billion in total assets and 34.9 billion in claims and benefits paid its members in 2007.

Elamparo stressed that the GSIS waits for the most opportune time to liquidate its investments, citing its sale of San Miguel Corp. shares last year which netted GSIS a hefty profit.

She said the GSIS tested the offshore investment market in 1995 by investing $10 million, which netted it $2 million in profits two years later.

Elamparo said that the GSIS provides an accurate financial picture for its members and the general public by releasing an annual financial statement.