October 7, 2004

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Winston Garcia, president and general manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) was the subject of controversy during the past weeks.

The accusations hurled at him by his critics gained the support of some GSIS employees, resulting to a series of demonstrations and rallies in the GSIS grounds calling for his ouster. Other militant groups threw their support to the protesting GSIS employees, and attempts by the emboldened protestors to enter the GSIS lobby and disrupt its normal operations were only prevented when police reinforced the GSIS security force. The declaration made by restive employees to physically remove Garcia from the GSIS premises became tainted with hype and propaganda, but lacked enough legal grounds and contravened due process.

We also invited the new officers of the Kapisanan ng mga Manggagawa sa GSIS (KMG), after a declaration was made that Atty. Alberto Velasco, who is leading the protestors, is no longer its president. (Excalibur News)   

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GSIS exec warns protestors: mass actions are illegal under the civil service code

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(from left-right) Robert C. Ibasco, speaker, KMG legislative assembly, Atty. Joseph Fellazar, acting president, KMG, Ms. Enriquetta Disuanco, executive vice president, GSIS, with Esther Gallardo, forum moderator announces to the press the latest developments in the GSIS ending the series of mass actions that disrupted its normal operations, at the Makati Business Forum. 

GSIS Executive Vice President  Enriquetta Disuangco called on protesting employees to return to work. Citing the provisions of the Civil Service Code, Disuangco warned that what they doing are illegal, and they could face administrative sanctions if they persist in holding mass actions during office hours.

Enriquetta Disuangco, who officially represented Garcia in The Makati Business Forum, still made it despite an unscheduled crisis meeting that she has to suddenly attend. She corroborated the statements made by Fellazar and Ibasco and further clarified some issues.

She said that the salary of Garcia, which is described by his detractors as exorbitant, was not fixed by him but was established before his time. She also said that the disappearance of eleven artworks valued at P1.4 million happened long before he assumed office in 2001, and was only uncovered a year later in 2002 after he ordered an inventory of all the items in the GSIS Art Collection.

There is nothing irregular in the loan releases of Garcia, the lady exec explained, since processing of salary loans and other claims take only 4 to 8 hours respectively, under the present GSIS computerized system. The system automatically shows if the borrower’s records and premium payments of previous loans are in order.

"The GSIS, under Garcia’s stewardship, generated a net income of P37.5 billion in 2003, the highest in the 66-year history of the agency." Disuangco declared. "This is proof of Garcia’s ability to run the pension fund efficiently," she added..

Disuangco said that the Union Bank is qualified to become a depository bank of the GSIS because it is one of the most stable, progressive and profitable banks in the country. It was given a D rating by the Moody’s Investors Service, she said. 

In the bank ratings in the Philippines, Union Bank is No. 4 in terms of net income, No. 1 in return on assets, and No. 1 in capitalization ratio among domestic banks. Land Bank was given an E+ rating by Moody’s.

 "Union Bank’s winning of the bid for the GSIS e-card project was legal and above board," Disuangco stressed, adding that it passed the strict bidding process.

 According to her, the big financial institutions that joined the open bidding included BPI, PNB, DBP-Equitable PCI consortium and Union Bank. Among them, she said, it was Union Bank who emerged with the most cost-efficient bids, not only for the GSIS e-card project, but for the other financial facilities of GSIS as well.

 Land Bank, GSIS’ previous depository bank and whose name was dragged into the issue by the protestors, did not even join the bidding because it has no technical capability and demanded a higher maintaining balance of P8 billion. Union Bank, according to Disuanco, demanded only a maintaining balance of P1 billion.

 "With the reforms and computerization program being I implemented by the GSIS it needed an electronic partner to deliver to its members a cost-efficient and fast service, as the one being undertaken now by the Union Bank," Disuangco explained. (Excalibur News)   

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 Atty. Joseph S. Fellazar, who is the executive vice president of KMG, assumed the position of acting president after Atty. Velasco, was declared AWOL (absent without leave). Fellazar, now acting president of the KMG, said dialogues between the union and GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia would help solve the problem in the GSIS.

“There are other avenues to discuss the problems in GSIS before resorting to rallies,” Fellazar said. “Social dialogue is a better avenue to confront the pressing concerns affecting GSIS employees, rather than by holding demonstrations in the streets. Dialogue will promote industrial peace and ensure continuing public service,” he stressed.

These demonstrations are illegal, the acting KMG president added, for they violated some provisions of KMG’s constitution and by-laws.

Services to its members were not disrupted in other GSIS branches, especially those in the provinces, although it jeopardized some activities in the main office, clarified Fellazar who came all the way from Zamboanga. (Excalibur News)   

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Robert C. Ibasco, speaker of the KMG legislative assembly, said that it could be noticed, Ibasco said, that every time the reinsurance of NAPOCOR is to be renewed, the leadership of Garcia is being attacked. “There seems to a patron behind all these,” he concluded.

 According to Ibasco, Garcia’s policy from the time he assumed office was to substantially reduce re-insurance, and one of those affected is the NAPOCOR. Garcia effectively eliminated middlemen in the transaction, Ibasco said. This got the ire of those who are interested in getting the NAPOCOR re-insurance contract for loosing their “pot of gold”. This simply shows that he is a good administrator, Ibasco stressed.

The allegations made by some sectors that GSIS has no money and cannot release loans to members who have to wait for so long, has also been grossly misstated and misunderstood. Ibasco explained. “The real problem,” Ibasco said, “is that employees got used to the old system of loan approval and repayment, and find it hard to adapt to the new guidelines and procedures.”

According to Ibasco, there is a big difference in the manner of securing and paying loans today under Garcia’s administration than before. Payment of GSIS contributions is now the basis for loan application, and stricter measures are applied in collecting payments. Before it was the members who directly remit loan payments to the GSIS after receiving their salaries, the loan payments were not automatically deducted from their salaries.

With the completion of the GSIS computerization program, the loan eligibility of borrowers can be determined immediately, and if the records and supporting documents are in order, salary loans can be released in four hours, and other claims released in eight hours, Ibasco proudly said. 

The present system promotes transparency and rid the agency of fixers and irregularities committed by those who try to profit from the lapses of the old system, he  said. Some of the irregularities, Ibasco said, are the intentional delay in the processing of papers, waiting for "padulas" or grease money, approval and release of loans to members who have not actually fully paid their previous loans, receiving the benefits of a regular GSIS contributor without paying the regular monthly contributions, claiming the 13th pay of members who already passed away, and using the names of other members in securing loans, among others.  (Excalibur News)

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In line with Excalibur's desire to broaden its reach by inviting community publications  to serve as its network of provincial media outlets, a noted provincial publisher Nestor Abrematea, was invited as our special guest panelist for the week. 

Aside from publishing two community newspapers in Tacloban City, Nestor is also publisher of  The Manila News Weekly a tabloid newspaper circulating in the national capital region.

Nestor is an officer of the Publishers' Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PAPI) and the Nat'l. Federation of Phil. Press Clubs (NFPPC). Nestor is also the provincial correspondent of Manila Bulletin in Region 8. (Excalibur News)

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