GSIS UNIFIED MULTI ID, MULTI-MILLION MIDNIGHT DEAL BANE TO EMPLOYEES – COURAGE

Submitted by courage_phil on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 00:30.

Barely a few months before the current
administration’s term ends, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is
embarking on another multi-million project this time on another identification
card which merely duplicates the function of the pension fund’s e-card and
e-card plus. That the P270 million Unified Multi Identification card or UMID
came at the heels of the GSIS termination of the Survivorhip pension is another
cause for concern for its 1.5 million members.

 

In a statement today, COURAGE, the
national center of government employees said the timing of the multi-million
project is suspect. “At this juncture, we are already in the thick of the
election campaign, there is no doubt that it could be another money-making
venture for the administration’s campaign kitty or just another midnight deal
for the Arroyo administration before its term ends. At any rate, the project is
downright questionable and should be opposed by the GSIS members”.

 

Ferdinand Gaite, COURAGE National
President stressed the GSIS Management is utterly insensitive to the needs of
its members. While the state’s pension fund is said to be removing this March the
Survivorship pension for the dependent spouse/family to cut on costs, they are
embarking on the UMID project which is said to cost P180 per member or a
whopping P270 million. And although the GSIS claimed that the ID is voluntary,
a cash loan of P10,000 is guaranteed upon application for the ID to entice the
members. This is the same scheme they employed on the million peso Electronic
card or e-card which became a dismal failure and had to be substituted with
another e-card plus project. 

 

“If the project is above board and is
indeed necessary, why the need for an incentive that is in the first place a
loan? Like a loan shark, the GSIS is pushing the employees further into
destitution. What the members need are additional benefits such as increased
pension and dividends from the fund which came from their blood and sweat”.

 

Gaite warned that the UMID could also
paved the way for the government’s national ID system which is said to be for
initial implementation for the GSIS, SSS and Philhealth members. “That’s a
combined 50 million individuals whose personal and private record shall be
centralized to the government who has become notorious for illegal arrests,
abductions and even political killings”.   

 

The planned national ID system was
based on Executive Order 420 issued earlier in April 2005 which cause-oriented
groups have questioned and brought to court because it could be subject to
abuse such as invasion to one’s privacy and a ticket for harassment like the
cedulas used by the military to be presented to them by the residents in areas
considered as hotbeds of insurgency. Non-bearing individuals were suspected as
members and supporters of the New Peoples Army and are subjected to questioning
and harassments. The Supreme Court has reportedly ruled EO 420 as
constitutional but the groups are set to file a reconsideration.  #