Ducky Paredes

“If the ARMM does not remit loan repayments, how can the GSIS give out new loans?”

by Ducky Paredes

Among the great failings of our Muslim political leaders has been the fact that they ignore what they ought to be doing to get benefits for their own people.
Public school teachers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) only have ARMM officials to blame whenever their loan applications are turned down by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
This is because the ARMM had been remiss in remitting to the GSIS the payment of their teachers for the loans they have previously received from the state pension fund from 2001 to 2005. The total loan repayment receivable of the GSIS from the ARMM’s Department of Education (DepEd-ARMM) for the period amounts to a whopping P517 million.
If the ARMM does not remit loan repayments, how can the GSIS give out new loans?
Were the loans regularly deducted by ARMM officials from the salaries of their teachers but were not remitted to the GSIS. Or, were no deductions made on these loans or were they deducted irregularly?
Both scenarios entail criminal liabilities on the part of concerned ARMM officials, especially those belonging to DepEd-ARMM. Those who pocketed the deductions should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, no ifs and no buts.
On the other hand, if deductions were made irregularly by ARMM officials on the teachers’ salaries, that is criminal negligence or dereliction of duty.
In both instances, criminal and administrative (if the concerned officials are still in government) charges should be filed against the ARMM officials who are the real culprits behind the failure of ARMM teachers to get their loans approved.
Of course, the GSIS cannot approve new loans when previous loans have not been repaid, in the same way that it cannot provide benefits to those remiss in remitting premium payments.
This is mot difficult to understand.
If the GSIS were to lend again to delinquent debtors or continue providing benefits to those remiss in paying their premiums, then it would simply run out of money. Such a policy will shorten the actuarial life of the GSIS, the period of time during which it can service the needs of its members.
That would also be unfair to GSIS members who dutifully pay both their loans and premiums.
In most cases, government agencies tasked to collect the receivables of the GSIS from their employees are to blame. That’s the tragedy of the matter. Also ironic is the fact that the blame is heaped on the GSIS when it should fall squarely on the shoulders of government officials who are either pocketing salary deductions or are not doing their job to collect the GSIS receivables.
In the ARMM, the problem is not limited to loan repayments but also to P450 million in premiums not remitted by DepEd-ARMM from 1997 to 2003.
Actually the national government already bailed the ARMM out on the premium payment issue when the Department of Budget Management (DBM) took over from ARMM the obligation to pay GSIS the P450 million, as well as the responsibility to deduct and to remit to the GSIS the current premium payments of ARMM teachers.
The national government surely must have had in mind the welfare of the teachers when the DBM did what it did under a memorandum of agreement it signed with the GSIS in early 2004.
But why is it that one was brought to court for the fiasco? Why were the erring ARMM officials not given their just comeuppance?
The present problem of ARMM teachers primarily emanates from their unpaid loans. The problem of unremitted premiums has already been addressed.
In the loan repayment fiasco, the government should go down hard on ARMM officials who either dipped their fingers on the hard-earned money of teachers or who sat on their jobs by not collecting due loans
While going after corrupt officials, the national government should also task the DBM to take upon itself to pay the P517 million, as well as the task of directly remitting to the GSIS all current loan repayments of ARMM teachers.
Why does it seem that the government cannot prosecute ARMM officials responsible for this mess, which have as their victims the GSIS and its members?
Is it because the shenanigans of ARMM are protected because the continued existence of a graft-ridden ARRM is one reason why Gloria Arroyo won in 2004?
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I agree wholeheartedly with Rep. Riza Hontiveros who took to task the message that the Philippine Marines communicated with the general public when it put up a sign saying: “It’s the SOLDIER – not the reporter – who has given us the freedom of the press. It’s the SOLDIER – not the poet – who has given us the freedom of speech. It’s is the SOLDIER – not the politicians – who ensures that we live freely and peacefully. It’s the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is eventually draped by the flag. ”
Riza says: “The message misappropriates the duty and function of the military establishment in our society. When soldiers start thinking that they have the power to grant rights and freedoms, we go back to the dark days of the Martial Law. It is very dangerous to ignore such flawed notions, especially if they are coming from those who wield guns and has the capacity to drop bombs.
“The message maligns poets, journalists, and politicians, an attitude that we commonly see in fascist regimes.”
No one give us these freedoms. They are our inherent right as humans!
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hvp (08.26.07)