Suspended Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President and General Manager (PGM) Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso has issued a formal statement, arguing that the preventive suspension ordered against him, along with six other executives, was merely based on bare allegations contained in an anonymous and unverified complaint.

Two days after the news regarding his suspension broke out, Veloso spoke up, stating he was “surprised” over the Office of the Ombudsman’s order.

Veloso noted that the order was dated July 11, which was signed on July 15—just days before the end of the Ombudsman’s term—placing him under a six-month preventive suspension over the GSIS’s ₱1.45-billion purchase of 100 million preferred shares in Alternergy Holdings Corp.

“First, my preventive suspension is based solely on an anonymous and unverified complaint purportedly filed against me. My preventive suspension was issued without the Ombudsman considering my counter-affidavit,” Veloso said in a July 24 statement.

Veloso said the Ombudsman had directed him to file his counter-affidavit by July 21, to address the “anonymous and unverified complaint.” However, the anti-graft body issued the suspension order “without waiting” for his response and relied “solely on the bare allegations” to suspend him and other GSIS officials.

Veloso has been suspended along with Executive Vice Presidents Michael Praxedes and Jason Teng, Vice Presidents Aaron Samuel Chan and Abigail Cruz-Francisco, Officer II Jaime Leon Warren, and Acting Office IV Alfredo Pablo.

The Ombudsman said earlier there were “sufficient grounds” to place Veloso and the six other GSIS executives under preventive suspension, citing “strong evidence” of grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, and violations of office rules.

In response, Veloso further provided four other arguments asserting Alternergy’s compliance with the standards, the GSIS’ financial gains from the investment, and the state-run firm’s financial stability over the years.

Based on GSIS records, which was also stated under oath in his counter-affidavit, the investment in Alternergy underwent thorough evaluation and was endorsed by the GSIS investment team, “whose technical expertise in financial instruments and risk assessment confirmed that the Alternergy investment fell squarely within established parameters.”

“Certainly, the professional judgment of these experts holds significantly greater credibility than the unverified assertions of an anonymous source,” Veloso said.

Moreover, Veloso argued that the Alternergy investment complied with all GSIS investment rules and regulations, noting that under GSIS policy, board approval is only required for investments over ₱1.5 billion.

Since the ₱1.45-billion investment was within the limit, it fell under his authority as PGM. “No board approval was legally required,” he stressed.

Republic Act (RA) No. 8291 allows the GSIS to invest in preferred or common shares of listed corporations. He explained that the law does not require the specific shares to be listed at the time of purchase—only that the issuing company is listed and regulated. Concerning this, Alternergy has been listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) since March 2023 and remains under full regulatory oversight.

He also noted that market capitalization and free-float thresholds apply only to publicly traded common shares, where managing liquidity risk is essential. The Alternergy investment involved non-traded preferred shares, which are fixed-income instruments intended for yield rather than trading.

“Applying market capitalization and public float criteria here reflects a failure to understand both the nature of the instrument and the purpose of the policy,” he said.

In terms of returns, the GSIS earned ₱117.9 million in cash dividends from Alternergy a year after the investment, which according to Veloso, disproves claims of “financial loss or mismanagement.”

Veloso also cleared up “misconceptions” surrounding the GSIS’ financial status and its funds’ sustainability. In three years, the pension fund for government employees expanded by about 20 percent from ₱1.54 trillion at end-2021 to approximately ₱1.88 trillion as of June 2025.

Additionally, 72 percent of the state-run pension fund’s investment portfolio is in relatively risk-free assets like government securities, member loans, and real estate, while 19 percent is in equities, five percent in infrastructure-focused private equity funds, and four percent in cash and near-cash items.

“With decades of experience in finance and investments, I have always been mindful of the boundaries of my authority, and have consistently ensured that all investment decisions remain well within those limits,” Veloso concluded.