|
SINCE the introduction by the Government Service
Insurance System (GSIS) of the computerized eCard Plus, which is
also an ATM card, problems related to its use have continued to
haunt a number of pensioners not only in the Philippines but also
those who have chosen to reside in the United States for good.
Notwithstanding the much-hyped
potentials of the eCard Plus as an all-around ATM card, things are
not as rosy and pleasant as some card users have sadly experienced.
Complaints abound with its use.
One complaint comes from
Guillerma R. Ferrer, a retired teacher who has long lived in the US
as a naturalized American citizen but who is back to her hometown of
San Carlos City, Pangasinan.
Her problem: the disappearance of
her monthly pension of over P5,000 through the mysterious
withdrawals by other persons for the past nine or 10 months.
“I am completely surprised how
my pension money can be withdrawn by other persons when I have been
holding my ATM card (eCard Plus) all the time,” she confided.
She had been successfully using
her ATM card from January to March last year. But since April, no
automatic teller machine connected with Union Bank, the repository
of all pension funds of retired government workers, can yield her
monthly pension.
Every time she made a balance
inquiry, all the ATM could show was only P200.
Last January 3, she went to the
GSIS office in Dagupan City to file her complaint. She was told that
there could have been a problem with the GSIS processing system and
was assured that proper corrections should be made.
Surprisingly at the very moment
she was at the GSIS, a withdrawal of P5,000 representing her pension
was made at an unidentified ATM outlet, a check with her ATM card
showed. She had lost about P45,000 since the mysterious withdrawals
were discovered.
How can such withdrawals be made
when she has been in full possession of her ATM card all the time?
Even if someone has made a copy of her eCard, can he make a
withdrawal without knowing the personal identification number (PIN)
of the card owner?
The victim of these vicious
withdrawals has suffered long enough through no fault of her own.
Will the GSIS allow this thing to pass without taking any remedial
action leading to the immediate restitution of her money? This is a
responsibility the GSIS must face squarely in the interest of
fairness and justice.
As a pensioner myself, I have had
my share of unpleasant experiences with the adoption of the eCard
Plus computerization in obtaining my monthly pension. I used to
withdraw my money every first day of the month with my eCard which
had been issued in December 2005 and was valid until March, my birth
month, the following year.
When I tried a withdrawal in
January last year, two months ahead of my card expiration, the ATM
failed to yield anything. I checked with the GSIS and was advised to
upgrade my eCard to an eCard Plus, the revised ATM card for all
pensioners. I went through the harrowing ordeal of lining up after
long queues of hundreds of pensioners, some in wheelchairs, being
served only by two employees.
Many letters of pensioners have
appeared in the opinion pages of newspapers, bewailing their failure
to receive their pensions for no valid reasons. One retired
government employee, who was in the ICU of a hospital, has written
that he had not gotten his pension for the last four months when he
needed his money most.
Several pensioners claim that the
previous GSIS system of delivering their money through mailed checks
was more efficient and hassle-free. It was even better when the
depository bank of the GSIS for pension funds was either the Land
Bank or the Philippine National Bank.
But GSIS president and general
manager Winston Garcia has made a strong defense of transferring the
pension funds to the Union Bank. He claims that the eCard Plus can
be used for many purposes—as official GSIS card, for speedy
delivery of loans and pension benefits and for obtaining discounts
by pensioners in pre-selected hospitals.
There will always be complaints
against the eCard Plus system because people are resistant to
change, says Garcia. What they should realize, he adds, is that the
system is highly efficient because instead of pensioners waiting for
weeks or months for their mailed checks, they now receive them in an
instant through the electronic crediting of their money to the ATM
account of their eCards.
Wait a minute. Is there really
high efficiency when pensioners lose their money through mysterious
withdrawals or don’t get their pensions on time when they need
them most?
|
