SSS, GSIS lookout needed versus investment scams

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Friday urged the state-run pension funds to be more active in warning the public about investment scams.

“The Social Security System (SSS) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) have to take the lead in educating potential investors since they cater directly to millions of Filipinos, especially those who fit the typical profile of scam victims,” Escudero said in a statement.

He noted many of those being victimized were pensioners and retirees, whose pension and savings they invest in Ponzi scheme-types of investments.

“The SSS has 32.5 million members, while the GSIS has close to two million members and pensioners. Both institutions conduct informative talks with their members and produce materials or collaterals on their programs and services. I don’t think it will require a lot of effort and resources to integrate a brief module for the purpose. Besides, they have plenty of opportunities to interact with their clients,” Escudero said.

Warning members and pensioners about investment scams is also part of the mandate of pension funds such as the SSS and the GSIS, he noted.

“A state pension is supposed to provide financial security and protection to its members. The SSS mission, for instance, is ‘to promote social justice and provide meaningful protection to members and their families,” Escudero said.

“Before, all we had to worry about were illness, disability, or death. Now, we also have to deal with scams. An investment scam will just as easily wipe out a Filipino’s future as a sickness, a disability or a death in the family,” he added.

Escudero is pushing for “a sustained, institutional approach on how to best drill into the public’s consciousness the risks associated with fraudulent activities” such as Ponzi and pyramiding schemes.

“Prevention is better than cure; forewarned is forearmed. It is alarming that even professionals and well-educated people are lured into these schemes. I don’t think the ‘flyer approach’ to information dissemination is adequate,” he said.