By Noreen Jazul The families of eight government health workers who succumbed to COVID-19 will receive a total of P12.9 million in life insurance benefits from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN) In a statement Thursday, GSIS president and general manage Rolando Macasaet said each family will receive a “ lump sum payment equivalent to 150 percent of the annual salary of the deceased.” The families will also receive an additional P500,000 under its Bayanihan Fund for Frontliners (BFF). The BFF, which was established last April 14, aims to provide additional cash assistance to government health workers on the frontlines of the country’s COVID-19 fight. “This is over and above the ₱1 million, which President Duterte promised to give our frontliners under the Bayanihan to Heal as One law,” Macasaet said. The names of the frontlines were not disclosed due to privacy reasons. Macasaet, however, named the institutions at which the frontliners worked at, namely Philippine Heart Center Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), National Children’s Hospital Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (Cebu), and local health centers of Manila, Parañaque, and Pampanga. Macasaet said GSIS has been coordinating with the bereaved families of the fallen frontliners. “It is devastating to lose a loved one but we do hope that this will help assuage the grief felt by the families of those left behind by these heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” Macasaet said.