Who is to blame?

Last Thursday, thousands of members of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) lined up for many hours in front of GSIS wireless automated processing system (G-W@PS) kiosks following an announcement that GSIS members affected by tropical storm Ondoy can apply for emergency loans starting Oct. 1.

The P20,000 emergency loan is available to eligible members located in areas declared by the National Disaster Coordinating Council as under a state of calamity. The state pension fund has allotted P5 billion for this loan program.

Imagine their dismay when the online loan kiosks went offline for more than two hours. The dismay turned into anger and outrage, especially for those who lined up early that day in order to be the first to apply.

The natural reaction, of course, was to blame the GSIS management. Even IBM, which supplied the database software, blamed GSIS, saying it was human error.

It turns out that the problem could have been avoided had IBM been quicker in responding to the problem brought to its attention even before the kiosks were supposed to go online that day.

According to the GSIS, IBM deliberately left out details on what really happened when the G-W@PS shut down in the morning of Oct. 1.

The GSIS said that moments before the G-W@PS kiosks were to go online last Oct. 1, the IBM DB2 went offline preventing the kiosks from working.

The GSIS called up IBM for assistance, even providing complete information of the problem over the phone, hoping that IBM could, right there and then, provide the GSIS the necessary action needed to fix DB2. Instead, IBM opted to pay the GSIS a visit, a move that came only late that day.

The situation forced the information technology staff of GSIS to work on the problems themselves. At around 10 in the morning, the GSIS succeeded in finding the problem and applying the necessary corrective action to the IBM DB2, the G-W@PS kiosks were back online at about 10:30.

Two representatives from IBM and one from its business partner Questronix arrived at about 11 a.m. At that time, the problem was already fixed and the kiosks were already working.

The GSIS, in a meeting with IBM and Questronix representatives that day, emphasized the continuing apprehensions the GSIS has on the IBM DB2, particularly the table space issues which caused the database to misbehave when it reaches two terabytes in size.

The GSIS also said in the meeting that it has requested the detailed description of the fixes applied to the DB2 table spaces in order for GSIS IT personnel to perform routine DB2 maintenance without fear of causing any DB2 crashes or corruption.

What the awaiting GSIS members didn’t realize at that time was that had it not been for the quick response of GSIS technical personnel on a problem that could have been resolved much earlier had IBM supplied the needed solution over the phone, then they would have much waited much longer.

Right now, the GSIS is working round the clock to service the loan applications of its members, especially victims of Ondoy who applied for the calamity loan via the G-W@PS kiosks. It has also it has put in place the necessary 24/7 manpower and technical support to prevent or mitigate disruptions that might arise as members continue to flock in for their calamity loan.

The GSIS emergency loan program is the most generous of its kind in the country. The loan bears an interest rate of eight percent per year and payable in equal monthly installment for a term of three years. Qualified members have until Oct. 31 to submit their application for the emergency loan.

Come to think of it, does the Social Security System (SSS) have a counterpart emergency loan assistance of that magnitude for its members in the private sector? They weren’t less hit by tropical storm Ondoy after all.

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