This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 50, January 29-February 4, 2006
LABOR WATCH Is
this a case of adding insult to injury? Overworked and underpaid government
employees of Bacolod City complain not just about the delay in the release of
their dividends from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) but also the
meager amounts. BY
KARL G. OMBION
Bacolod City
– For almost a month, electronic card (e-card) holders of the Government Service
Insurance System (GSIS) have been complaining about the slow release of their
annual dividends which are already low to begin with.
Ramon Espinosa,
spokesperson of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Bacolod, said most government
employees line up for several hours to withdraw their GSIS dividends, which
range from P600 to P800 ($11.45 to $15.27, based on exchange rate of P52.385 per
US dollar). Worse, he said, others have complained that their e-cards are empty.
Espinosa said that
the long delay in withdrawals using the GSIS e-card is caused by off-line
automated teller machines (ATMs) of UnionBank of the Philippines, the GSIS’
depository bank. According to him, UnionBank tellers would advise e-card holders
to wait or return the next day.
He stressed that
when the e-card program started last year, GSIS reportedly told them they can
withdraw from any bank. However, other banks do not honor the GSIS e-card,
Espinosa said.
He said his group
has been from the start opposed to the introduction of the e-card system given
the anomalies surrounding it. They also fear that the computerization process
may eventually lead to retrenchment of government employees.
He said that GSIS
funds used to be with Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), a government bank.
When Winstron Garcia assumed the GSIS’ top post, he transferred all the accounts
to UnionBank which is privately-owned. Espinosa believed this was highly
irregular.
According to him,
it is clear that the GSIS under Garcia “is just fooling us, and even looting us
of our contributions and shares.”
Espinosa called on
GSIS pensioners and all state employees to continue the fight to remove Garcia
from the post, and resist the GSIS’ corporatization plan which is just a
euphemism for a take-over of profit-oriented private companies. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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Bacolod Gov’t Workers
Slam Delayed GSIS Releases
Bulatlat