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This is a response
to Bea Colores’ letter which claimed that Mr. Ferdinand Gaite could not
legitimately lead the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of
Government Employees (COURAGE), a militant national center of government
employees (Inquirer, 6/18/2009). As affiliate unions of COURAGE, we feel that
we have the duty to answer her accusations against our leader.

Firstly, Ms.
Colores does not have the right to question the legitimacy of Mr. Gaite as the
National President of COURAGE; unless she is part of it, which we doubt since
she did not even specify her affiliation in her letter. But for the purpose of
enlightening her, we would like to reiterate that Mr. Gaite was duly designated
for the position through a legitimate election held during the National
Congress of COURAGE last December 2006. Consequently, he has the full mandate
of the 300,000 members of the organization until his term ends in December this
year.

We are also
bothered where Ms. Colores could have gotten the idea that Mr. Gaite was
repeatedly disowned by COURAGE when not even a single complaint against the
latter was formally submitted to the General Assembly or the least the National
Secretariat of the group since he first assumed his position. Instead of
repeatedly disowning him, COURAGE affiliates repeatedly elected him into office
for three consecutive terms (a total of 9 years). This only shows that Mr.
Gaite has the full confidence of the government employees in leading them in
their different struggles for economic and political benefits.

Her allegations
that Mr. Gaite could not represent a sector which he is not part of is
completely baseless. For her information, Mr. Gaite has been a public servant
himself for almost two decades. He was the Division Chief of The Management
Information System of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) before
he resigned from government service in 2003.

His expertise in
the field of public sector was even recognized by the Congressional Oversight
Committee on Labor and Employment (COCLE) and was hired as consultant of the
said agency though the Office of the late Rep. Crispin Beltran. Obviously, he
is a member of the GSIS and his membership in the Pension Fund was not
terminated along with his resignation from OWWA. Like any fund owner, he has
all the right to criticize the managers of GSIS if he deems that his funds are
being misused or mismanaged.

COURAGE, together
with its more than 200 affiliate unions, also salutes Mr. Gaite for sacrificing
possible promotions to a higher position with a hefty pay should he have stayed
with OWWA. He opted to devote his full time serving his fellow government
employees. It takes so much passion for someone to do the same. COURAGE
accommodates the few good men like Mr. Gaite as honorary members who have equal
rights with members in active government service. Ms. Colores can even refer to
the organization’s Constitution and by-laws that this right is indeed provided
for former government employees who have dedicated their time and efforts
fighting for the interests not only of its sector but of the Filipino people in
general.

Lastly, it is
shocking to hear someone assailing Che-Che Lazaro  and other individuals who did nothing but
protected the interests of GSIS members who have suffered so much because of
the anomalies perpetuated by General Manager Winston Garcia and other GSIS top
officials. The clamor against the GSIS management did not come out of nowhere.
This resulted from the myriad of reported cases of non-posting of contributions
and payments of fund owners, questionable investments of the GSIS and other
circumstances that can possibly incite a revolution from the GSIS members. We
do not even know if Ms. Colores has experienced the inefficiencies of the
Pension Fund for she did not even mention in her letter if she is a government
employee or a retiree herself. The way she defends the GSIS top officials from
its rightful critics, it is inevitable for someone to think that she is
benefiting from the mismanagement in the said agency.

We hope that Ms. Colores is just
misinformed for making such statements and this is not part of the demolition
job of GSIS like what it conveniently does against its critics. Otherwise, we
would be pleased to fail Ms. Colores and all anti-government employee agents’ attempts
to discredit Mr. Ferdinand Gaite, our National President. Moreover, personal
attacks on Mr. Gaite cannot stop COURAGE from advancing the rights and
interests of the state workers and the Filipino people.