Dutch Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen is on the mark (see related story). It’s time to stop making excuses and take care of persons in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (the BES islands) who lost up to 12 pension years for which they duly paid premiums, because the money was somehow never received and/or registered by the former Antillean Pension Fund APNA according to its files transferred to the Pension Fund Caribbean Netherlands PCN.
Whatever solution is sought shouldn’t be for only civil servants of the National Service RCN, but also (former) personnel of the public bodies, etc. Leaving the latter up to the local government and schools alone is simply not good enough.
As pointed out, the problem resulted from constitutional restructuring and dismantling APNA, for which the Kingdom Council of Ministers also carries responsibility. What’s more, the three islands are now part of the Netherlands and their inhabitants ought to be treated that way.
Surely PCN can still accommodate these few dozen cases despite the paperwork not being complete. After all, they are hardly to blame for any administrative shortcomings by their (then) employers.
If local governments are indeed not fully cooperating to provide the information needed, as suggested in the case of Statia, they must be dealt with accordingly, but the persons involved may not become the victims of such. A temporary arrangement guaranteeing their full rights is clearly called for.
