GSIS hit for e-card fiasco
At least 23 Ilonggo lawyers coming from both defense and prosecution panels have now banded for what stands as a "test case" for Iloilo. The unifying issue is the government pension from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) now coursed through the government-mandated electronic card or "e-card."
With at least 10,000 pensioners directly affected throughout Western Visayas alone, for 80 year-old pensioner Jeremias Bionat, the brainchild of GSIS President and General Manager Winston Garcia of an "e-card" can very well mean "empty-card". Worse, said retired public school teacher added, its forced "blitzkrieg" implementation has even displayed "the highest peak of callous insensitivity" coming from "a government technocrat."
The e-card, Bionat continued, has totally disregarded the plight of the elderly pensioners and beneficiaries under GSIS retirement survivorship most of whom are either sickly, weak, recovering from a stroke or suffering from all of said conditions.
In an affidavit, Bionat, father of noted public prosecutor Jeremy Bionat of the Iloilo City Prosecutor's Office, slammed the GSIS hierarchy saying he was hoping the e-card brouhaha was just a prank or someone's idea of a sick joke.
"That this grossly whimsical if not incompetent attitude displayed by the GSIS management by its President and General Manager Winston F. Garcia towards its retired and elderly clientele whose ranks (or retirees) are mostly medical and physically impaired is a clear violation of Sec.36 (3) (2 and (3) in relation to Sec. 35 (f) and Sec. 46 of Republic Act No. 7277 otherwise known as the "Magna Carta for Disabled Persons…," excerpts of the 80 year-old pensioner's statement went.
Bionat's plight came to view after at least three months of delay in his monthly pension courtesy of the e-card implementation.
Under Garcia's orders, pensioners must present themselves to a GSIS office and have their picture taken as a pre-requisite for the e-card issuance. General ruling is that no one is exempted from the "Garcia scheme" and failure to abide will result to indefinite suspension of the beneficiary's pension.
"That I cannot understand why is the GSIS ignoring the practical scheme being adopted by its counterpart in the private sector – the Social Security System (SSS) which allows its retired members to maintain the use of ATM cards (which does not necessarily require a member's photograph to be taken by a "special gadget" used by the GSIS) and its depository bank is Allied Bank, a financially stable bank with numerous branches in Western Visayas aside from being a member of BancNet," Bionat continued.
The e-card scheme has Union Bank as partner bank however in Iloilo, a number of ATM machines particularly post notices that "eCards not accepted."
Worse, he added, at times holders are reportedly shooed away "as if they have communicable diseases."
Since Bionat's plight was made public, The News Today (TNT) gathered of the continuous visits made to the Iloilo City Prosecutors Office expressing support on the case set to be lodged against the GSIS. The number of lawyers is also expected to increase with at least two cases confirmed to be filed within the week.
The eCard fiasco is the latest controversy hounding the GSIS alongside longtime unresolved problems of the local GSIS office here.
Pensioners and their families regularly seen milling around the rented building in the city similarly complain of the 'unfriendly' atmosphere here and the building itself which is not accessible to the sickly claimants.
One retiree who is a survivor claimant herself expressed open disgust when reached for comment saying the government has no business doing them disservice after the years of service extended during their heydays.