By Karl Angelo N. Vidal

THE Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has extended its search for external fund managers until April 13 as it wants to receive more applicants.

“We want more fund managers to choose from. [We extended it because] we are very serious about being transparent,” Jesus Clint O. Aranas, GSIS president and general manager, told reporters on Tuesday.

Mr. Aranas said 37 firms applied for the trust fund, with the state pension fund only hiring two.

“37 applied for trust fund. We are only going to get two. We want to get the best of the best,” he said, adding that they are expecting more firms to submit their offers.

Mr. Aranas earlier said that the GSIS wants to place $800 million in foreign-currency instruments to diversify its asset portfolio.

GSIS will hire two external asset managers to have an allocation of $400 million apiece.

“$800 million is really for testing grounds in investment. It’s not too big… What we need is to understand the market globally, and we would like to look at our global fund managers how they handle,” Mr. Aranas said in a previous press conference.

As of November, 62% the pension fund’s assets were invested in financial assets, 24% in loans to its members, 6% in investment properties, 4% in cash and another 4% in property, equipment and other assets.

PORT AREA PROPERTIES
Meanwhile, Mr. Aranas said GSIS will be “publishing soon” the terms of sale of its two properties in Port Area, Manila worth P19.9 billion.

The sale of the two lots, with areas of 672,645 square meters (sqm) and 109,212 sqm, will be the biggest for the GSIS to date.

Currently, the first lot houses a chunk of the Manila International Container Terminal.

“There are structures that have no authority from us. We are selling as is where is,” Mr. Aranas said, adding that the sale will not make an impact on the operations of businesses there.

“It will not impact the operations. It will [only have an] impact on the ownership.”

GSIS can also sell the lot to any government agencies “if they provide just compensation.”

“We find it timely to liquidate the Port Area property and take advantage of the attractive real estate market values in the Manila Bay area,” Mr. Aranas explained.

Earnings from the asset sale will be used to augment GSIS’ funds, as well as for more projects for its pensioners.

Mr. Aranas said GSIS booked a net income of P94.932 billion in 2017, according to unofficial data.

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