DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 July) – The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has allotted a total of P269,000 for emergency or calamity loans for its members affected by the recent flashflood in Matina Pangi in this city.
Deity Manampang, GSIS Southern Mindanao manager, said during the Club 888 press conference Wednesday that the loan is actually open to members all over Davao City because they may “want to help their relatives who need assistance but are not qualified to apply for the loan.”
According to Manampang, the emergency loan is payable within three years with a monthly amortization of P688.89. It is available to government employees who do not have loan account in default (or loans not paid for one year) and whose agencies are not deactivated. The loan is not available, however, to retirees.
Manampang said that the loan granting runs until August 15, 2011.
He noted that last July 18, employees rushed to the GSIS office to apply for the loan because of rumors that the granting of loans is only until that day.
“Contrary to that false information, we still process requests up to the 15th of August. We have even extended our operations,” he stressed. To avail of the loan, a member can visit the GSIS office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays until Fridays, and from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Approved loan applications can be claimed 3-5 working days after. They must have their GSIS e-card, otherwise they won’t be able to claim their loans, Manampang stressed.
GSIS has about 6,000 members in Davao City. As of last Tuesday, 2,769 loans were processed while 1,069 applications are still pending.
Manampang explained that agency authorized officers (AAOs) have to approve the employees’ loan applications. “And if the AAO doesn’t act on it for three days, the employee has to file an application again,” Manampang explains.
“That’s what we also request from AAOs that they have to attend to the applications of the employees immediately because we understand their need to get up from the calamity,” he added. (Joan Mae Soco-Bantayan / MindaNews)
