Guv: GMA to intercede for GSIS pensioners

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has vowed to intercede for old-age pensioners with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to ease their burden in claiming their pensions using the eCard. This after Gov. Erico Aumentado presented to her Friday night a resolution of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) that he heads and an aide memoire portraying the plight of pensioners especially in areas where there is only one branch or none at all of the Union Bank. “Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Chavit Singson sponsored the resolution during the LPP general assembly Friday morning while I prepared the aide memoire for the President inviting attention to the plight of old-age, usually sick and disabled pensioners,” the governor said.

The President committed to take the issue up not only with GSIS President and General Manager Winston Garcia but with the system's Board of Trustees as well, he said. The eCard may be a blessing for pensioners residing in cities and urban areas but it is a bane for those living in remote areas, he explained. He said he used as an example the plight of a pensioner from the island town of President Garcia off his hometown of Ubay 125 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital, Tagbilaran City.

A P1,000 pension is simply not worth going to the city: One has to pay fare for the pumpboat from the island to Ubay, for the bus – or for convenience, an air-conditioned van from Ubay to Tagbilaran, for the multicab from the bus terminal to the waiting area in the city and from there to the lone Union Bank branch, and vice versa. In case the queue is too long, a pensioner might be forced to stay in the city overnight. Good if he or she has relatives, but if not, they need to pay for board and lodging, he explained. The hassle – and the expense – is doubled if the pensioner is disabled and has to bring a companion. The pensioner should be given options – not forced to swallow the eCard hook, line and sinker, he emphasized. His example, he said, drew sympathy from the governors who also had similar cases to relate, hence, the Singson-sponsored resolution. Aumentado will meet the President again this week. By then, he said he expects to learn what steps the GSIS has taken to mitigate the old-age pensioner's burdens.

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