Should the Public School System be exempted from the rate adjustment being implemented by the NMI Retirement Fund on its employer contributions? Why?

Yes. One thing is that our salary in the PSS has never gone up. We cannot afford to do that. In my own opinion, one reason for that is where is PSS going to get the money? They always decrease our budget. They never give our budget. How can we afford the additional rates when we don’t have enough money?
Annie Mendiola
Fina Sisu

We should be exempted and the entire system. When the time it’s going to be implemented, that additional rate is not included in the current and proposed budget. It could be a temporary exemption until we get our desired budget then maybe the additional rate would be okay. If not, it’s going to hurt us.
Claire Pangelinan
San Vicente

Everybody should be treated fairly. PSS should be exempted. We don’t get the budget that we want. We are looking at the reality that PSS is not getting the required budget.
Dorin Salas
Navy Hill

With regards to that, PSS budget is still the same since 1999 and they haven’t increased our budget. PSS has problems financially and additional contribution to the Retirement Fund is not yet right time. We are still struggling financially, maybe in the future. We can sit down and talk again about it. Until such time that we have enough money, if they can leave us with the same rate then good.
Francisco Deleon Guerrero
Dandan

The PSS is a non-revenue generating government department. Everything is free from toilet paper, bus rides, etc. So how can we afford that that especially we always apply for Federal Funding? We don’t have the money. Where will we find the money? There’s a waiver to exempt us for the rate increases on the Retirement Fund. PSS should be exempted because we are non-revenue government agency. PSS is one of the agencies that pay its dues on time.
Marja Lee Taitano
Rota

I agree to a certain degree. I agree to the contention of where will PSS get the money the fact that it is indeed a non-revenue government office. But I have a question with this that is about the reality of the Retirement Fund in itself in the long run. We should put down a long-term perspective to this issue. Let’s say an agency asks for exemption but in the long run or 10 years from now, where would we stand as far as contribution is concerned? The retirement situation right now is like a time bomb. That’s what I’m afraid of because I myself am retiring soon.
Roman Benavente
Capitol Hill

Yes. Why would they charge us another 12 percent when we don’t get our appropriate budget? If they would give us the right budget then we wouldn’t mind it.
Eli Odosha
Kagman

If they’re going to exempt the PSS then the compensation would be different and that would be a disadvantage, although, I am not that sure about the effect on the compensation. Whether they include the PSS or not, I will be fine with it.
Joe Sablan
Kagman III