GSIS opens P4.5B loan package for Yolanda victims

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MANILA, Philippines — The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has made available a P4.5-billion loan package for members residing in the regions devastated by “supertyphoon Yolanda” (international name Haiyan).

A member or a pensioner residing in any of the affected areas could apply for an emergency loan of as much as P20,000 until the end of the year, the GSIS said in a statement.

Due to the dire situation of the victims of the calamity, the GSIS said even those with outstanding loans with the state-run pension fund could apply for emergency loans.

The GSIS has also announced a six-month moratorium on payments for outstanding loans of members and pensioners in the stricken areas. Collection of payments from those GSIS members and pensioners with outstanding loans affected by the disaster will resume in May 2014.

Loans covered by the moratorium are consolidated loans, housing loans, policy loans and eCash advances, according to the GSIS.

The GSIS estimated having 300,000 members and pensioners residing in areas devastated by Yolanda.

Meanwhile, various international organizations are extending support to the ongoing relief operations in Leyte and other provinces hit by Yolanda.

The Asian Development Bank said on Wednesday it has approved a $23-million grant to the Philippines to help fund relief operations.

Of the amount, the bulk of $20 million will come from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, which is financed by the Japanese government and administered by the ADB. The remaining $3 million will come from the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund, which is the ADB’s emerging assistance facility.

The ADB also said it could lend as much as $500 million (about P21.5 billion) to the Philippines to finance reconstruction initiatives.

The typhoon has affected 11 million Filipinos residing mostly in central Philippines.

The regional economies of Central, Western and Eastern Visayas—the hardest hit areas—may contract in 2014 by as much as 8 percent because of the adverse effects of the calamity, according to the government’s preliminary estimates.

The likely contraction of these regions could chip off anywhere between 0.5 and 1 percentage point from the overall growth figure of the Philippine economy.

The three regions account for 12.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and 20 percent of its population.

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