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Old-age
pensioners of the Government Service Insurance (GSIS) are
seeking help from local officials to investigate the mess
created by the E-card system even as the Integrated Bar of
the Philippines (IBP) Bohol Chapter assured "100 percent
support in the filing of criminal or civil lawsuit" against
the agency's top officials.
As
of presstime yesterday, there were already around 30 retirees
who have signed the criminal complaint to be filed against
the GSIS, according to the retirees' spokesman Francisco Reyes
Jr. who visited the Chronicle offices yesterday.
Reyes
called on his fellow old-age GSIS pensioners to sign the complaint
that also seeks the assistance of Bohol's three congressmen,
Edgar Chatto, Roberto Cajes and Eladio Jala as well as City
Mayor Dan Lim.
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On
the other hand, newly elected IBP-Bohol president Atty.
Isabelo Sales Jr. said over dyRD's "Inyong Alagad"
yesterday that the plight of old-age pensioners is "an
official matter that should be given highest priority."
The
lawyer calls it as the "highest form of injustice"
as the retirees' "contribution to the GSIS [are]
personal and should not be arbitrarily withheld"
while the insurance agency (GSIS) is "awash with
funds" that are being placed in international investments.
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The
IBP has passed a resolution to support the pensioners' protest
against GSIS, according to Sales.
For
his part, former OIC Gov. Victor dela Serna said over dyRD's
"Pulso" that Pres.
Arroyo
should have acted immediately when Gov. Erico Aumentado and
the league of governors
registered the pensioners' complaints. The president could
have ordered to restore the postal delivery of pension checks
but instead deferred on behalf of GSIS general manager Winston
Garcia.
Dela
Serna pointed out that GSIS officials are appointed by the
president and serve at her pleasure.
PENSIONERS'
PLEA
In
their letter to the three Boholano solons, the pensioners
call the implementation of the e-card system as "inhuman
and has caused [them] serious irreparable damage."
The
retirees protest why they are compelled to enroll in the e-card
without first consulting them. Because of this, the pensioners
stated that their "meager monthly pensions were suspended
leaving the sickly and disabled members helpless."
Beneficiaries
who already possess the e-card could not withdraw from the
Union Bank whenever they want to since the bank's automated
teller machine (ATM) have no cash available.
The
letter explained that most of the retirees have to travel
from the towns where they come from to Tagbilaran City where
ATMs are available.
"The
old and sickly have to spend whatever little money they have
for their expenses in the city only to find out that there
is no available money to be withdrawn from the bank,"
the letter stated.
While
the GSIS have been promising them to resume the suspended
pensions, no positive action has yet been done until this
time "to the detriment of old pensioners."
The
new e-card system, according to the retirees, is proven inconvenient
for them compared to the old system where they simply had
to wait for their checks in the mail.
Some
of the old pensioners are burdened since they do not know
how to use the ATM machine more often asking the assistance
of others at the risk of loss, theft of their monthly payments.
The
pensioners are being assisted by lawyers Danilo Bantugan,
Oscar Glovasa and Dela Serna in their complaint.
According
to the pensioners, of around 5,000 retirees under the GSIS,
about 30% are affected by the e-card implementation.
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