NEWS RELEASE -- September 3, 2010
Ref: France Castro, Secretary General (Mobile No. 09178502124)
Benjie Valbuena, Nat’l Vice-chairperson (09182399222)
Teachers to troop to Malacanang, air their demands on GSIS to P-Noy
Hundreds of teacher-leaders from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), and teachers' federations of the National Capital Region, will troop to Malacanang today at 3pm, to air their concerns on the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to President Benigno Aquino III.
ACT Secretary General Ms. France Castro said that they have requested to hold a dialog with the President so that they may present to him personally their issues and demands. She also added that they will also give to the president their urgent appeal regarding their concerns on the GSIS which is signed by thousands of teachers.
"The government employees, largely composed of teachers, have been burdened by unjust policies of the GSIS for years." Castro said. "Former president Gloria Arroyo did not do anything about it despite our clamor, which further aggravated our problems. It's high time that Pres. Noynoy did something about this."
ACT Vice-Chairperson Benjie Valbuena also said that during the leadership of former GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia, policies that are unlawful and that have caused hardships on GSIS members were introduced and implemented. Among these are the Premium-Based Policy and the Claims and Loan Interdependency Program (CLIP).
Valbuena added that the teachers and government employees are suffering from these policies, but their contributions have been used to line the pockets of GSIS officials who each received P6M in 2009 alone.
"Eventhough Garcia is no longer with the GSIS, the unjust policies are still being implemented and still continue to be a burden to us members," Valbuena said. "We demand that these unlawful and unjust policies be scrapped, and Garcia and his cohorts be held accountable!"
ACT also called on Pres. Aquino to appointment genuine representatives of public school teachers, government employees and retirees in the GSIS Board. They also demanded that the GSIS immediately refund all amount which were illegally deducted from members; the investigation and prosecution of Garcia and his cohorts regarding the use of GSIS funds and the implementation of unjust policies.
ACT also demanded for the dropping of charges and suits filed by Garcia against ACT Chairperson, and now ACT TEACHERS Partylist congressman Antonio Tinio.
"We hope that Pres. Noynoy will not only hear our demands, but to also act on it now," Valbuena added.
Together with ACT, teacher-leaders from the Manila Public School Association (MPSTA) and Quezon City Public School Association (QCPSTA) will join the dialog. ###
++++++++
AN URGENT APPEAL TO PRESIDENT NOY REGARDING OUR CONCERNS ON GSIS
(Alliance of Concerned Teachers)
The Government Service Insurance System was created by Commonwealth Act 186 way back in 1936 as a social insurance fund for all government employees in order to promote their efficiency and welfare.
During the leadership of President and General Manager Winston Garcia, policies were approved and implemented through mere board resolutions. These policies were unlawful and have caused hardships on us GSIS members.
These are the Premium-Based Policy and the Claims and Loan Interdependency Program. Under the Premium-based policy, the GSIS arbitrarily deducts from the social security benefits and any loan proceeds of the us members the premium contributions which, although already compulsorily deducted from our salaries, were not remitted by our employers to the GSIS.
Under the GSIS ACT, it is the obligation of the government agency concerned to remit said premiums to the GSIS, just as it is the duty of the GSIS to collect said premiums from these agencies. This is tantamount to punishing us members twice. It is not our fault if our respective agencies did not remit on time. The law states that the agency heads should be penalized in these cases.
The CLIP is another forced deduction scheme wherein obligations which are not yet due or are covered by a separate contract, like mortgage contracts, are deducted from the benefits and loan proceeds of GSIS members.
We GSIS members have long suffered because of this system in the GSIS. Many of us who have retired, some who have died and those of us who are in the active service continue to be victims of these unjust practices. And it is ironical that while we sacrifice and cannot get on time what is rightfully due us as claims, the administration and employees of GSIS get monthly salaries and yearly bonuses and benefits that are extravagantly high.
The new administration of President Noy has promised reforms. He has pledged to take the right path and therefore correct wrongdoings in the government. Let us therefore ask him to act on our demands so that the GSIS will serve as a reliable and just institution of government employees like us public school teachers and personnel.
1. To appoint genuine representatives of public school teachers, government employees and retirees in the GSIS Board. Of the 1.2 million members of the GSIS, 538,000 are from the Department of Education. May we therefore ask that the public school teachers be rightfully represented by a teacher leader who will ensure adequate and active participation in the policy-making process that affect the benefits and interests, especially of the public school teacher GSIS members. Incidentally, we are recommending Ms. Francisca Castro, the Secretary General of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers for consideration in this position. She is also the President of the Quezon City Public School Teachers Association, which is the biggest federation of Public School Teachers nationwide. She has been an active participant in the Task Force GSIS which was formed by the Department of Education in 2007 to 2009.
2. Advise GSIS to immediately refund all amount which were illegally deducted from the members. One concrete example of this is the case of the unpaid government share in premiums from 1997 to 1998 (the government failed to pay the increase in the premiums for a total of 18 months – July, 1997 to December, 1998). There was an increase in premium from 9.5% to 12%. GSIS started deducting this from their members in August, 2003. In 2006, DBM released the total amount of P3,299,791.00 (this was the equivalent of the 2.5% increase in government share earlier deducted from its members) so that GSIS could refund this deduction. Guidelines for refund were released in 2007. Up to now, this has not yet been refunded.
3. Invalidate and scrap the Premium-Based Policy and the Claims and Loan Interdependency program(CLIP) and direct the re-computation of benefits of all active and retired (and even those who have died) beneficiaries and immediately refund all over-payments made by them.
4. Investigate and prosecute Winston Garcia and his cohorts regarding the proper use of GSIS funds and in the implementation of unlawful policies that have caused untold sufferings to the GSIS members.
5. Recall and scrap court charges and suits filed by Winston Garcia against those who questioned and criticized his unlawful acts and policies. An example of this is the five counts of libel suit filed against our ACT Chairperson and now Representative of the ACT Teachers Partylist, Congressman Antonio Tinio.
We, the undersigned public school teachers and personnel, present these demands to President Noy for immediate action.