SOME off-island retirees are complaining that their annuity checks from the Retirement Fund usually arrive late. They said the agency should mail the checks ahead of schedule.
Retirement Fund Administrator Karl T. Reyes said they are aware about the concerns of off-island retirees, but “we couldn’t do anything about it because we have no control over the postal system.”
Reyes said they are sending checks a week before the maturity date to ensure that off-island retirees receive their payments on time.
He said the retirees should be more patient until such time that the postal system normalizes.
“They must understand that we are already mailing the checks seven days before the date on the checks. But we have no control over the postal system. Whether the plane landed in California, in Hawaii or wherever, we don’t know,” Reyes told Variety.
Although majority of retirees are residing in the commonwealth, a good number of them are now residents of various states in the U.S.
“A lot are from the states. As far as Florida, Washington, D.C., but many are in California and on the West Coast,” Reyes said.
Some are also based on Guam and in the Philippines.
“Retirees choose where they want to spend the rest of their lives after they retire,” Reyes said.
Retirement Fund legal counsel Kathleen Troy-Rucker said it is unfortunate that the postal system is affecting the retirees.
“I have thought that the post office issue had been resolved, but I guess it’s not,” Troy-Rucker said.
The U.S. Postal Service has imposed stricter measures following reports that terrorists are using it as a medium to attack Americans by sending anthrax—a deadly virus—through mail.
Several anthrax-related deaths were recorded last year following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
