GSIS members get year’s reprieve

Some 14,000 members of the Government Service Insurance System who were affected by Tropical Storm “Sendong” need not pay off this year any of the loans that they took out from the pension fund.

GSIS president and general manager Robert G. Vergara said in a briefing Thursday that the agency’s board approved in January an “extended moratorium” on loan payments in addition to providing emergency loans to the victims.

“This is a complete moratorium and it would allow GSIS members to use their cash flow for more urgent needs such as repairing their damaged homes,” Vergara said.

He said the program covers members who reside or work in the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Negros Oriental, Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte—areas that suffered the brunt of Sendong.

Interest payments and penalties on outstanding loans for qualified members, including pensioners, are suspended.

Loans covered include housing loans, consolidated loans, eCash advances and the emergency loans granted because of Sendong.

However, pension loans, as well as due and demandable accounts as of the end of 2011, are not covered.

Vergara said that for a member to qualify for the program, he or she should not have missed monthly payments for more than six months as of Dec. 31, 2011.

He added that the moratorium would be implemented in two phases. In the first phase, loan payments due in the first quarter of 2012 are automatically deferred.

“This means that members in the provinces listed need not file an application to qualify for the first phase,” Vergara said.

The second phase, which covers the remaining nine months of this year, applies only to members, pensioners and retirees who lost a family member or whose residence and property sustained damages or who lost their source of income as a result of Sendong.

Members have until February 29 to apply for the moratorium benefits.

Earlier, the GSIS said it released at least P626.1 million in emergency loans to some 32,000 members who were severely affected by Sendong. Coverage of the emergency loan program included a wider area and more provinces compared to that of the recent moratorium.