Statement - A challenge to the next president and members of the legislature

CEBU, Philippines - The GSIS Act of 1997 and its predecessors, (Commonwealth Act 186 and Presidential Decree 1146) were enacted to ensure the welfare of state workers. Crafted by Congress to provide assistance to the employees especially in times of needs, the law is supposed to afford all government employees with benefits and incentives befitting their status as public servants.

Sadly, the GSIS has incessantly failed to live by its mandate. This became even more pronounced since Winston Garcia took over the management of the System. Since then, the sufferings of its more than a million members, especially public school teachers, grew. To make matters worse, Mr. Garcia and the GSIS Board legitimized those injustices through policies and resolutions which are contrary and inconsistent with the letter and intent of the law.

First, under its Premium Based Policy (PBP), members' benefits are being computed not on the basis of actual length of service in Government as the law prescribes, nor on the basis of actual premium payments withheld from their salaries, but on the basis of premium payments actually remitted to and posted by the GSIS in its database, acts which are within the exclusive control of the GSIS and our employer-agency.

Second, under the Automatic Premium Loan (APL) program, if the government agency-employer fails to pay its mandated counterpart share, the delinquency is automatically converted by GSIS into a personal loan of the employee, even illegally imposing an interest of 2% per month.

Third, under its Claims and Loans Interdependency Program (CLIP) and the APL, teachers' and other members' benefits and claims are reduced by amounts which are yet unliquidated, mostly owing to the shoddy state of the records of the GSIS, even as their loan repayments and personal premium share are automatically deducted from their monthly salaries.

We have mounted protests against the Garcia led GSIS management for years yet he has stayed this long for God knows what reasons.

We have also dialogued with the President regarding these controversial policies and she agreed that these are not only unfair, but also immoral. We had hoped that she would act on these problems, as they are clearly within her power to do so. However, Mr. Winston Garcia continues to lord it over the system and his policies continue to be inflicted upon us.

We were forced to bring the matter to the judiciary and are now asking the Court of Appeals to nullify these policies. Pending the decision, do we have to suffer severely and ceaselessly?

Twelve days before the elections, all candidates especially those for president have been throwing garbage at each other, inventing, reinventing and recycling injurious propaganda against their opponents. Yet, this very urgent and important matter for the more than a million strong employees in the vast government bureaucracy and their families remain largely ignored. Nobody among these candidates has actually come out with a clear and concrete plan to review these policies and alleviate the sad plight of our public servants.

Thus, we challenge all those running for office specially those at the national level to commit on the teachers' call for a better government insurance system by:

1. Replacing Garcia and members of the GSIS Board with men of probity and sincere regard for the welfare and rights of all GSIS members;

2. Pressing for legal action against Garcia and all those responsible for violating the spirit and letter of the GSIS Law;

3. Immediate cancellation of the Premium-Based, Automatic Premium Loan (APL), Claims and Loans Interdependency (CLIP) and other unjust and anomalous policies and instituting new policies to enhance the system's viability and provide the needed benefits to its members in a fast, responsive and respectable manner;

4. Refund benefits under the GSIS Law that were "confiscated" through the policies created by GSIS Board under Garcia's leadership;

5. Amend the specific provision on Board Membership to GSIS by providing a pro-rata representation among members in the Board to ensure stronger, direct and more responsive representation of teachers, school workers and other underrepresented members of the System; and

6. Amend the GSIS Law to make it stronger and more responsive to the needs of its members.

Political ads have shown candidates promising everything to the Filipino people, many of these ill conceived, misguided and definitely including heaven and earth and things that are neither doable nor possible. Yet nobody dared to speak publicly against Mr. Garcia and the GSIS Board despite their wayward and unjust practices and their continuing mistreatment and oppression of public school teachers and other government employees. Are they giving more weight to the 'command votes' of powerful forces than the welfare of 1.4 million state workers and their families? This is our challenge.

Benjo Basas

National Chairperson

Teachers' Dignity Coalition