GSIS members may apply for emergency loans

As the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) continues to reconcile its records with the different government agencies, the state pension fund has opened its emergency loan window to members who may be affected by the ongoing reconciliation and are in dire need of financial assistance.

"This is one solution that we hope to offer to our members who may need immediate relief," said Robert Agustin, GSIS vice president for social insurance.

Under the loan program, GSIS members may apply for an emergency loan worth P10,000 starting Oct. 13. All members, even those with existing loans with the GSIS, may avail of the emergency loan window.

The emergency loan will carry an interest of 10 percent per annum, still lower than prevailing bank loan rates, with a maturity of two years, translating to an amortization of about P500 a month.

The loan applicants will not have to go the GSIS offices to apply for the loan but just to apply with the liaison officers of the respective agencies. These liaison officers will also be responsible for getting the approved checks from the GSIS and distributing them to the member-borrowers.

Agustin noted that while the GSIS would like the process of updating and reconciling members’ records to be as painless as possible to its 1.5 million members, it was inevitable that some members are affected by the ongoing computerization process.

Following a series of dialogues with the Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA), GSIS formed a 100-man task force to reconcile its records with the different government agencies.

PGEA represents 112 government workers’ union and has been voted the official representative of government workers in the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) and the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

Many GSIS members are complaining about salary loan releases but GSIS said it has restored its operations and even made the processing of loan applications faster following the upgrade in its computer system.

The revitalized computerized system, however, revealed several problem accounts that constrained the GSIS to deny some loan applications or approve lower amounts.