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GSIS
Chief’s Retention to Help GMA’s Presidential Bid – Courage Leader
President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stands to benefit from retaining the embattled GSIS
chair, Winston Garcia, in his post. Apparently, politics far outweigh the need
to heed demands of thousands of GSIS employees who want Garcia sacked for
alleged irregularities.
By
Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com
 Ferdinand Gaite, national chairperson of the Confederation for the Unity,
Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) said last Friday
that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will benefit from the retention of
Winston Garcia as president and general manager of the Government Service
Insurance System (GSIS).
Winston
Garcia
In a forum sponsored by the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and
Research at the Titus Brandsma Center, Gaite said that retaining Garcia in the
GSIS will help Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidential bid in the 2004 election.
Macapagal-Arroyo, who ascended to the presidency in January 2001 through a
popular uprising against the Estrada administration, has recently declared her
intention to run for president in May 2004 – a reversal of what she had
pledged in December last year.
Garcia, who has come under fire from thousands of government employees and even
the Department of Finance (DoF) for alleged mishandling of GSIS funds, is a son
of Cebu Gov. Pablo Garcia. Malacañang has recently decided to retain him as
GSIS president and general manager after a brief investigation by the
Presidential Anti-Graft Commission into the accusations against him.
Gwendolyn Garcia-Codilla, Winston Garcia’s sister who works as consultant to
their father, has said that
because of this, their family will help Macapagal-Arroyo’s candidacy in Cebu.
This has been echoed by the GSIS chief himself. “We trust in the leadership
and moral ascendancy of the president and believe that she deserves six more
years to finish the programs that she has started,” Garcia said in a media
interview last Oct. 18.
Alleged irregularities
Allegations of irregularities against Winston Garcia had surfaced as early as
last March.
In a letter to President Macapagal-Arroyo last March 18, the Kapisanan ng
Manggagawa ng GSIS laid down the following issues against the GSIS chief:
1. Garcia’s cash advances amounting to Php3.4 million (U.S.$ 61,818.18);
2. The establishment of district offices worth Php4 million (U.S.$ 72,727.27)
each;
3. The appointment of outside legal counsel for the cost of Php200,000 (U.S.$
3,636.36) a month.
A press release posted at the GSIS website http://www.gsis.gov.ph/
states that the GSIS is establishing five district offices in Metro Manila
alone, and 120 others around the country to replace its 78 service desks. These
will cost Php500 million (U.S.$9.09 million).
The GSIS has also been assailed for purchasing a painting by Juan Luna, Parisian
Life, for Php46 million (U.S.$ 836,363.64 million) using GSIS funds. A press
release posted at the GSIS website announces of a national tour of the painting,
which has yet to be accounted for in terms of finance.
In a March 19 letter, Dario Rama, chair of the Presidential Anti-Graft
Commission (PAGC), asked Finance Secretary Isidro Camacho to send the DoF’s
findings on the issues raised by the Kapisanan ng Manggagawa ng GSIS to the
commission.
On April 8, Camacho wrote to Rama stating that the DoF found merit in the
allegations against Garcia. Camacho has also recently said that Garcia is guilty
of mismanagement of GSIS funds.
Courage also finds it questionable that while the GSIS supposedly has no money
for servicing claims and loan applications, it had Php1 billion (U.S.$ 18.18
million) to allot for a loan to the Public Estates
Authority (PEA).
The PEA was in charge of the construction of the President Diosdado Macapagal
Avenue (PDMA) in 2002.
For
this, it secured a loan of Php1 billion from the GSIS. However, the road was
revealed to have been
overpriced by Php533 million (U.S.$ 9.69 million).
Documents in the possession of Courage show that the GSIS loan to PEA in June
2002 was approved by
Malacañang. A memorandum dated June 7, 2002 from the Office of the President,
signed by then chief
presidential legal counsel Avelino Cruz, to PEA general manager Benjamin Cariño
and GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia states that the president
“has, pursuant to Section 12 of Presidential Decree No. 1084, approved the One
Billion Peso Loan Agreement entered into on February 13, 2002” between PEA and
the GSIS.
Aside from these, Gaite also spoke of reports reaching Courage that the GSIS has
allotted at least Php100
million (U.S.$ 1.81 million) in contributions to Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaign
funds.
The GSIS chair is also assailed for receiving an exceedingly high salary. He is
said to earn some
Php540,000 (U.S.9,818.18) every month. In contrast, the average government
employee earns Php5,082 (U.S.$92.4) a month.
Stoppage of loans and claims processing
The GSIS chief earned the ire of government employees for Office Order No.
35-03, dated May 5, which
instructs all Operating Units Concerned (OUCs) to defer processing of claims and
loan applications while continuing to receive them.
The ostensible reasons for stopping the processing of claims and loan
applications are stated in the Office Order. Part of the Office Order reads:
“The prompt and proper posting of premium remittances and loan repayments is
the heart and soul of GSIS operations—from the collection of premiums to the
maintenance of the membership database and on to the processing of loans and
claims. Without it, GSIS will literally be operating blindly with no reliable
record or data to determine the amount of premiums due from each member and
covered agency, the accurate membership database and the correct loans and
claims disbursed to members.
“Unfortunately, for years, the GSIS has utterly neglected this very important
activity, resulting in the huge volume of posting backlog that has conveniently
‘justified’ the System’s reliance on certification of services and payments submitted by agencies as the sole basis
for paying claims and benefits and disbursing loans. As belatedly discovered and
realized, this practice has disastrously caused substantial losses for the GSIS,
that now, in turn threaten the actuarial solvency of the GSIS Funds.
There is, therefore, a compelling and urgent need to address this long-standing
posting backlog problem if we are to successfully plug the financial leakages
and forestall the further deterioration of the financial
health of the GSIS.”
Courage has been opposing Office Order No. 35-03 for months. In a position paper
submitted to the House Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization
last June, Gaite stated that the reasons given by the GSIS for stopping the
processing of claims and loan applications are lousy excuses. Wrote Gaite: “We
find this as a flimsy and unacceptable excuse. More so during this time when
many members are in dire need of funds to finance their children’s schooling
and other requirements.”
The GSIS has a total of 1.4 million active members. Currently, there are 200,000
pending loan applications
with the GSIS.
Protesting government employees assert that the GSIS is unable to service claims
and loan applications
because of corruption in the agency.
Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo, Crispin Beltran, and Liza Maza, as
early as last May,
initiated through House Resolutions Nos. 1059 and 1060 initiated an inquiry, in
aid of legislation, into
reports of irregularities at the GSIS.
In recent weeks government employees have been staging protest actions all over
the country, by the tens of thousands, against the GSIS. In their protest
actions in Manila, government employees have appeared angry enough to take on
police and GSIS security if they found it necessary.
Recently the GSIS allocated Php12 million (U.S.$ 218,181.82) for emergency loan
assistance.
Gaite sees this as merely a ploy to appease the restive government employees.
“If there really is no
money for servicing benefits and loan applications, why did they allocate that
money for emergency loan
assistance?”
The GSIS received 600,000 applications for emergency loan assistance last Oct.
13. GSIS officials had
promised that it would take only one day to process these applications. However,
to date, only 200,000 of these applications have been serviced. Bulatlat.com
Related
Articles:
●
Leyte
Gov't Workers Protest Anew, Want GSIS Exec Sacked
● The
Ghosts of GSIS
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