Teachers vow to pressure GSIS over system delays

CEBU, Philippines – The Philippine Public School Teachers Association, the biggest and foremost professional association of public school teachers, vows to pressure the Government Service Insurance System on the latest problem of database crash which causes the delays in processing of loans and claims of members.

In a statement, the PPSTA has expressed the frustrations of public school teachers who are mostly affected by the problem.

“The sad thing about this is that it will not be the GSIS or the IBM which would be severely affected by this problem. It’s the teachers. It’s always the teachers who are the short end of the stick. This has to stop,” according to PPSTA.

GSIS earlier apologized to its members and pensioners for the slow processing of claims and loans its system is experiencing currently.

In an open letter, GSIS informed its clients that the problem is due to a systems crash two months ago caused by a flawed software database installed by the global computing giant IBM.

GSIS told members of a system crash that has happened more than two months ago after recurrent system flaws that started in 2008.

“The system failure has slowed down the processing of claims and loans. The flawed software database installed by IBM has definitely hampered our desire to speedily process loans and claims,” GSIS earlier said.

The GSIS suffered a total of eight crashes in a span of two months because of IBM’s allegedly defective software. The pension fund has suffered at least P5 billion in actual damages as a result of the system crashes, GSIS reported.

GSIS assured however that the database content is still intact and the integrity of all GSIS records remains uncompromised.

“The IBM Laboratories in Toronto, Canada, has reportedly admitted its problems, but despite the admission, IBM did nothing to solve the technical problems it caused. For a full year, IBM has been insensitive to our appeals for a speedy and full technical correction of its flawed software system,” GSIS added.

Meanwhile, GSIS called the libel suit filed by IBM Philippines against them ridiculous. 

“To an extent, it is an act of desperation to save face,” said GSIS chief legal counsel Estrella Elamparo.

Elamparo insisted that what they have told the public about the error done by IBM is a form of transparency to its 1.5 million members and pensioners.

GSIS said that IBM should instead go after its business partner, Questronix Corp., which the GSIS said was the one that revealed that the defective database management software from IBM, called DB2, was the root cause of the troubles of the GSIS.

“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.

“IBM has no one to blame but themselves for their besmirched reputation because if their software performed as they promised it to, then none of these would have happened in the first place. They can’t fix this problem because they are always in a constant state of denial,” she added.

Last Wednesday, the GSIS filed a civil case against IBM Corp., IBM Philippines, and Questronix, as it asked the court to order these companies to pay the GSIS P100 million in damages. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP (THE FREEMAN)