IBM to file P200-million libel suit vs GSIS

MANILA, Philippines - The local unit of computer giant IBM Corp. will file a P200-million libel suit against the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) after a series of “unwarranted public attacks” on the pension fund for government employees’ data processing system called the Integrated Loans, Membership, Acquired Assets and Accounts Management System (ILMAAAMS).

In a statement, IBM Philippines said it has started legal actions to “vigorously defend” its reputation.

“We cannot stand by and allow our company’s reputation to be tarnished by blatantly inaccurate and misleading accusations. This is an action that we do not take lightly. IBM has been in operations in the Philippines for more than 70 years, and has over 7,000 employees. During this time, we have built our business by upholding the highest level of corporate ethics and integrity. Anything less would betray the trust that clients, citizens and governments place in us every day,” it said

“Our preference is to work constructively with our clients and our business partners to address any and all issues they may have, in a spirit of mutual cooperation and partnership. Unfortunately, the deliberately libelous actions by the GSIS leave IBM with no other course of action,” IBM said in the statement.

GSIS ready to face libel raps

The GSIS said yesterday it is ready to face the libel charges which IBM Philippines has threatened to file against it over the issue of an allegedly problematic software which IBM supplied to GSIS.

However, GSIS chief legal counsel Estrella Elamparo said IBM should also go after its business partner, Questronix Corp., which revealed that the defective database management software from IBM, called DB2, was the root cause of the crash of GSIS’ database.

Elamparo said GSIS’ members have been affected by the system crash caused by the defective IBM software.

“Our members and pensioners are suffering because of this defective IBM software. If a libel suit is the price we have to pay for keeping our clients aware of what’s really happening, then we have no qualms about seeing IBM in court,” Elamparo said.

GSIS claims that it suffered a total of eight crashes in a span of two months because of IBM’s defective software. More importantly, the pension fund said it suffered at least P5 billion in actual damages as a result of the system crashes.

Elamparo noted that it was IBM’s partner Questronix that revealed the defective software in a May 15 report submitted to GSIS.

In its report, Questronix said it was the inability of the IBM database software to handle voluminous chunks of data that is causing the software to shut down. – Iris Gonzales