Fonavi: who are the retirees that could be excluded from the return of the money?

The ruling of the Constitutional Court (TC) —016-2021— referring to the demand filed by the Executive against Law 31173 indicates that “it is appropriate to declare the unconstitutionality of article 2 in the end that allows the possibility of including various people in the return unassessed if they received any direct or indirect benefit from Fonavi resources”. Said affirmation would violate the right of a group of Fonavistas because it opens the possibility that they will not be considered in the return process, warns the National Federation of Fonavistas and Pensioners Association of Peru (FENAF-Peru).

Although the union points out that the TC’s decision does not establish a firm mandate, by reopening the possibility of exclusion, it leaves it in the hands of the Ad Hoc Commission, which —as is known— is made up of fonavistas, but mostly by representatives of the Executive. For this reason, there is a fear that they will vote in favor of reducing the universe of fonavistas who demand that they be paid in full.

Who are the retirees that could be excluded from the refund?

The Fenaf-Peru It maintains that the judgment of the TC would seek to exclude from the return of contributions the borrowers of the Materials Bank, who live in places where sanitation and electrification works were carried out.

“The sanitation and electrification works, that is a responsibility of the State that is established in article 7 of the Constitution. The state borrowed money from fonavi to fulfill its responsibility, it was not an exclusive program for fonavistas, but also the citizens and fonavistas paid for the connections through their receipts. So what is the benefit? There is no benefit.” explains Jorge Milla, leader of FENAF-Peru to La República.

Regarding the Fonavistas who requested credits from the Materials Bank, Milla maintains that they cannot be considered beneficiaries either, since they borrowed their own money and paid it back with interest. In the case of those who could not finish paying, they should do so with the amount owed to them.

The important thing is that the Ad Hoc Commission agrees on this point to stop hindering the start of the return of money. The leader refers that the key is to exhaust the more than S/2,000 million that the working group has in its accounts to start collecting the money that the State owes.

Fact:

• The next session of the Ad Hoc Commission will be on Thursday, July 20. Due to the National Holidays, the next session would be held in August.
• Of the almost 2 million Fonavistas, to date only 7% have recognized their contributions —month by month— before the Technical Secretariat.