Police are now hunting down the wife of a retired police sergeant for receiving more than P535,000 from the Philippine National Police (PNP) retirement system through an alleged anomalous pension claim.
PNP chief Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa said the perpetrator, identified as Lucila de Mesa, failed to inform the PNP Retirement and Benefit Administration Service (PRBS) that her husband already died February last year going on to continue receiving his pension.
“The monthly pension was supposed to stop in March 2019 but de Mesa’s wife Lucila failed to report her husband’s death,” said Gamboa.
He has since ordered the PRBS to recover the entire amount of P535,355.93 from de Mesa.
Meanwhile, the PRBS has already filed a case against de Mesa before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
Gamboa earlier ordered the PRBS leadership to purge the list of pensioners of fake claimants after accounting disclosed the PNP retirement system has been losing millions to the same.
Among those considered fake claimants are those who did not declare their retired spouses' death, those that have remarried, and those whose children are no longer clarified to receive pension.