The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that remitting contributions to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) does not fall within the official duties of a mayor.
In the case of People v. Antonio M. Talaue penned by Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, the High Court ruled that the prosecution failed to establish that Talaue was responsible for remitting employees’ GSIS premium contributions or that he intended to violate the GSIS Act of 1997.
Talaue served as mayor of the municipality of Sto. Tomas, Isabela, from 1988 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2010.
The High Tribunal held that under the Local Government Code (LGC), municipal mayors are considered “chief executives” and not the “heads of offices” mandated by section 52(g) of the GSIS Act of 1997 to remit GSIS contributions.
It explained that “the LGC does not include remitting GSIS contributions among a mayor’s listed duties.”
No internal directive or issuance was cited to demonstrate the mayor’s involvement in the remittance of GSIS contributions, the SC added.
In 2003, GSIS informed Talaue that the municipality failed to remit the social insurance contributions of its employees resulting in a case for collection and damages.
