Teachers hold rally vs. GSIS tomorrow

CEBU, Philippines - Members and supporters of Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Cebu City Chapter will hold a rally tomorrow against the management of Government Service Insurance System.

Saying the “premium-based policy ni Winston Garcia kalbaryo sa mga magtutudlo ug mga myembro sa GSIS,” the protesters will seek to address complaints of teacher, retirees and pensioners on the alleged irregularities in the agency’s operations.

Early morning tomorrow, protesters will assemble at Elizabeth Mall and will proceed to GSIS compound where a program will be held at 10 a.m.

Major issues that will be raised are the GSIS Premium-Based Policy and Auto CLIP (Claims and Loans Interdependency Program) or Cross Default Policy, which ACT alleged to have resulted in the deferment of loans and benefits since May in 2003.

ACT alleged that with this policy of GSIS, members are subjected to high loan interest rates, unequal and non-commensurate retirement benefits and delayed contribution to employees’ compensation.

It also complained against the increase in contributions, limited survivorship claims, and life insurance policy with no benefits for disabilities, accidental death and burial.

ACT Cebu chairperson William Alterado said that the GSIS has been neglecting the welfare of millions of state employees and pensioners.

“GSIS is abtik pa sa kilat ug mat-an pa sa pinya in making automatic deduction of all our dues from our regular salaries. But when our turn comes to collect our benefits, we are made to suffer by going through bureaucratic processes,” Alterado said.

Alterado lamented that GSIS no longer protects them as they are losing most of their benefits, saying that members retire without retirement pay because of the Auto CLIP policy and other “bureaucratic abuses.”

He said that retirees can no longer enjoy their retirement benefits if they have unpaid loans. “Worse, it is only at retirement that employees usually realize that their unpaid loans had ballooned to staggering amount due to high interest rates.”

Another issue that teachers are complaining about is the charging of interests and surcharges to their individual accounts for the delayed remittances of Department of Budget and Management of their premiums.

Alterado said that since the premiums are automatically deducted from the payroll, the teachers are not responsible for the delay.

He said cases of delayed pension that members receive even if the remittances are issued on time are due to the failure of the GSIS to record or encode the payments. – Jessica Ann R. Pareja/LPM (THE FREEMAN)