The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today led a demonstration of hundreds of public school teachers at the headquarters of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in Pasay City . The teachers were protesting what they described as the “oppressive and exploitative” policies of GSIS introduced by President and General Manager Winston Garcia.

The protesting teachers marched to the main gate of the GSIS complex at 10 a.m.. They held a program in which numerous speakers vented their anger at the GSIS management. They also set up a “complaint desk” that documented the grievances of hundreds of teachers. “There are complaints concerning problems with retirement benefits, salary loans, housing loans, life insurance maturity, and others,” said ACT secretary-general and Quezon City Public School Teachers’ Association president Francisca Castro. “In many cases the problems have to do with onerous interests and surcharges imposed by GSIS based on their erroneous records. We’re documenting the complaints, then we’ll submit them to the GSIS for urgent action.”

“The pent-up anger of teachers and other government employees at the oppressive policies of GSIS under Winston Garcia cannot be underestimated,” said ACT chairperson Antonio Tinio. “Billions of pesos of losses sustained by GSIS due to years of mismanagement and corruption are being unfairly recouped by Garcia through unjust and onerous deductions from the benefits of GSIS members. In many cases, GSIS is so ruthless in demanding its pound of flesh that retirees are left with nothing.”

Tinio cited the case of Candida Tiglao, a 68 year-old retired public school teacher from Tarlac City , who has not received a single centavo of her monthly pension since 2005. Tiglao availed herself of a GSIS housing loan worth P353,000 in 1998. By 2007, this had ballooned to over P1.69 million. When she retired in 2005, the GSIS automatically withheld her 18-month retirement lump sum as well as her monthly pension and used these to offset her unpaid housing loan.  According to the GSIS, they will start paying Tiglao her pension in 2012, when her debt to GSIS shall have been fully paid.

“What kind of government is this that deprives a retired public school teacher of her pension—at this point, her one and only source of livelihood? Garcia is running the GSIS as though it were a loan shark operation or a Mafia organization, not a social security fund,” said Tinio. “If things don’t change, tens of thousands of GSIS members will suffer the same fate as Ms. Tiglao.”

He also criticized for Pres. Gloria Arroyo for her continued support of Winston Garcia at the helm of GSIS. “Mrs. Arroyo has callously endorsed the much-vaunted reforms implemented by Garcia, which has improved the profitability of GSIS at the cost of much suffering for tens of thousands of GSIS members.”

ACT identified the GSIS’ premium-based policy, the Claims and Loans Interdependency Program (CLIP), and the new housing loan policy as “unjust and exploitative” and called for their immediate scrapping. They also called for the writing-off of onerous interests, penalties, and surcharges, full payment of benefits and immediate refunds to those members victimized by unjust deductions. Lastly, they reiterated the call for Winston Garcia’s resignation. “Garcia must go, he must be held accountable for all the suffering he has inflicted on the GSIS members,” said Tinio. #

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Additional information on the case of Candida Tiglao :

• she was a public school teacher of Tarlac National High School in Tarlac City; she retired in 2005
• she availed herself of a GSIS housing loan worth P353,000 for a house and lot in Teresa Homes Subdivision in Tibag, Tarlac City in 1998
• the GSIS loan agreement was in the form of a deed of conditional sale (DCS) which stipulates that failure to make installment payments for three consecutive months will mean cancellation of the sale; any previous payments made shall be considered as rent
• Ms. Tiglao's DCS was cancelled in 2002
• the house and lot has been foreclosed by GSIS

• however, her housing loan with GSIS continues to grow due to compounded interest: as of December 2007, her outstanding balance stands at:

Principal: 353,000
Interest: 1,323,158.96
Surcharge: 13,748.21
Fire premium: 2,020.27
Surcharge on fire: 303.04

Total: 1,692,230.48
 

• under RA 8291, she was entitled to receive the following from GSIS:

1)      cash payment equivalent to 18 months' pension (18 month lump sum) plus

2)      monthly pension starting one month after retirement

• however, she received no retirement lumpsum because her 18 month lumpsum (worth P145,526.07) was applied by GSIS to her housing loan
• she received no monthly pension from August 2005 to the present (36 months x P7,337.45 monthly pension = P264,148.20) because it was applied by GSIS to her housing loan
• according to GSIS, she will continue to receive NO pension for the
  next four years (up to 2012) until her housing loan is fully paid.