MALTREATMENT OF GSIS PENSIONERS 'A DISGRACE'

We have received permission from Berns, a victim of the GSIS disaster in New York last March 9 and one of our contributors to this blog, to reproduce (slightly redacted) her letter of complaint to Ms. Cecilia Rebong, Consul General of the Philippine Consulate General in New York City. While it is true that some people found no reason to complain about the incident (and our guess is that they had a shorter wait than the others because they had been processed ahead), we take issue with Ms. Rebong's insistence that she was blameless in this whole episode. As consul general, she cannot possibly make excuses for her lack of foresight in preparing for this event. Her omission in not asking relevant questions from her counterparts in LA and San Francisco had greatly contributed to the problem. Besides, GSIS incompetence is a well-known fact that has been widely publicized in the Philippines prior to their coming to the United States, so she cannot totally claim innocence that there are enormous problems with the GSIS eCard program.

March 12, 2007

To: Mrs. Cecilia Rebong
Philippine Consul General
New York City

Re: GSIS Fiasco

I sincerely hope that the pensionados who are there today [March 11] and tomorrow [March 12] to get their GSIS eCard are treated more humanely than those of us who came on Friday [March 9] and Saturday [March 10]. Last week was a disgrace. There was simply a total disrespect for all the senior citizens and the family members who brought them there. They were left there to sit for hours without any update as to what was going on in the back of the room and what was causing the unbelievable delay. The GSIS personnel who are conducting this procedure are unprepared and totally INCOMPETENT. They knew beforehand the number of people who are coming from the East Coast, but they didn’t do their homework; they didn’t even attempt to find a solution to the problem they had encountered in California. People could have avoided the time and expense of coming to New York for nothing. After all there is such a thing as “appointments” by phone or email. These pensionados that they are dealing with are highly educated people. The GSIS spokesman was just counting on people to give up and leave because they have to eat and take their medications. These senior citizens (our very own people) went home TOTALLY FRUSTRATED and ANGRY. The GSIS personnel absolutely do not understand that their job is all about SERVICE.

I am also very surprised and disappointed that as Consul you did not anticipate the burden that this event could bring to the Consulate. The consulate should have hired temporary help to handle this event. If the GSIS spokesman did not alert you beforehand as to what happened in California, then that is a great omission on his part. I am also very disappointed that you, as head of the Consulate, were totally caught unaware of the CHAOS that happened a month before in California. It just seems to me that it is a large part of your responsibility as Consul to look after the welfare of the Filipino community, at least in the East Coast. Our people, especially the senior citizens, deserve better.

This whole situation is simply and utterly unforgivable and indefensible. I just hope we don’t blame the computer and the biometric technology. Yes, the technology is cumbersome but there is no substitute for better planning.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Bernardita