Governor Erico Aumentado came to the rescue for about 7,000 Boholano GSIS pensioners amid clamors for easy access on their monthly allowances through outlets proximal to their homes. Aumentado met with FCB Chairman Richard Uy and FCB president Argeo Melisimo late last week together with GSIS Manager Encarnacion Enriquez to agree on extending services for GSIS pensioners' to access their monthly allowance through FCB which has branches in 21 towns in the province. The governor announced over the January 11 episode of his weekly radio program, Governor's Report, that based on the meeting, the First Consolidated Bank (FCB) now has the capability to facilitate the services with the new Automated Tellering Machine (ATM) and Point of Sales (POS) facilities that it plans to set up. FCB proposed a personal account service for GSIS pensioners in all its 21 municipal branches in Bohol. Aumentado said he will personally bring up FCB's proposal to GSIS General Manager Winston Garcia who had earlier agreed to the idea of tapping FCB as one of additional conduits for the allowances of the GSIS pensioners. As of now, Union Bank, Lhuiller branches and some accredited banks in Tagbilaran City are serving GSIS pensioners.

In the proposal, FCB urges GSIS pensioners to open a savings account with any of its branches in Bohol to avail of the service. FCB will then issue a personal ATM-POS card for each of the pensioners who maintain a savings account with them. Then, the pensioners can just withdraw their monthly pensions from the ATM terminals that FCB will set up in all its branches in Bohol . In municipalities where FCB has no branch, the bank will set up a point of sales system. The bank shall activate the automatic credit for the particular savings account based on the GSIS-FCB service agreement list. A pensioner just needs to maintain a minimum balance of P100 in his savings account which will not earn interest. FCB clarifies that only those that maintain a daily balance of at least P501 shall earn interest at two percent per year that is gross of withholding tax. GSIS, for its part, shall open and maintain a compensating balance in a savings account which should contain as credit balance equivalent to the total amount due for the monthly pensioners' list. FCB will not charge any fee for the service extended to both GSIS and its pensioners. FCB and Channel Solutions, Inc. recently signed a memorandum of undertaking toward setting up Automated Tellering Machine (ATM) and Point of Sales (POS) facilities. (PGMA)