State pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) earmarked over P1 billion to implement the GSIS Financial Assistance Loan (GFAL) and top-up loan for the 2,063 personnel of the City Government Office (CGO) Zamboanga City.

GSIS Chairman and concurrent acting President and General Manager (APGM) Rolando Ledesma Macasaet also addressed a crowd of nearly 100 GSIS members in a stakeholders’ dialogue held today, 10 October 2019.

“President Rodrigo Duterte’s marching order is to help government employees pay their debts. Our GFAL agreement with Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco is thus a step towards helping CGO Zamboanga City employees ease their financial woes due to unsettled loans,” Macasaet said.

Eligible GFAL applicants may borrow up to half a million pesos, which will be paid in equal monthly instalments for six years, at an interest rate of six percent per annum. Those with outstanding loans from lending institutions that are below P500,000 may choose to borrow the remaining amount through the top-up loan, the proceeds of which GSIS will directly pay to the member.

To qualify for GFAL, members must be permanent government employees with outstanding loan from private lending institutions, government banks, or cooperatives accredited or recognized by their agency; have paid premiums with the GSIS for at least three years; have no due and demandable loan account with the GSIS; not be on leave without pay; have a net take-home pay of not lower than P5,000 after deduction of monthly obligations; and have no pending administrative case or criminal charge.

A borrower with pending case is still eligible to apply for GFAL if the case was filed by a lending institution due to nonpayment as a result of the prioritization of payroll deductions.

The pension fund chief explained that “prior to this signing ceremony, GSIS has already inked GFAL memorandum of agreement (MOA) with 27 LGUs and agencies in Zamboanga, benefitting 6,428 government employees.”

During the stakeholders’ dialogue, representatives of government agencies, members, and pensioners were briefed on key GSIS policies, programs, and services, such as GFAL and Top-Up loan programs; Program for Restructuring and Repayment of Debts (PRRD), a one-time condonation and restructuring program for former GSIS members with unsettled loan balances; and the Housing Account Condonation Program, which offers full waiver of penalties and surcharges to interested applicants who will pay their housing account obligations in full.

Macasaet and other top GSIS officials also addressed the inquiries and concerns of stakeholders. “We constantly reach out to them through these dialogues as part of responsive service,” Macasaet said.