GSIS SAD EPISODE WAS PREVENTABLE

The following letter was sent to Ms. Cecilia Rebong, Consul General, Philippine Consulate General in New York, by one of those affected by the GSIS disaster that occurred during the enrollment of Filipino pensioners on Macth 9, 2007 at the Consulate. We are posting it here in hopes that it will awaken Philippine officials into implementing reforms in a broken Philippine bureaucracy that is the state pension fund or GSIS.

March 13, 2007

Hon. Cecilia Rebong
Consul General, Republic of the Philippines
Philippine Consulate General in New York
556 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10036
Via Fax (212.382.1146), email and regular mail.

Dear Consul Rebong:

I am writing to let you know of my outrage and that of others who went to the Consulate General last March 9 to enroll in the GSIS eCard program over the mistreatment of the pensioners and the callous disregard for their welfare by the Philippine bureaucracy that you, as consul general, represent.

I need not recall here how they were so totally disrespected by the self-proclaimed spokesman of the GSIS IT team. It was very clear from the get-go that that man had no business assuming the role of spokesman because of his cavalier attitude toward the pensioners. He could not even follow through on your pledge to update the crowd on what number was being processed. Not once did he ever make any announcement despite agreeing to it when you had made the suggestion, not once but twice.

The Consulate General was totally caught unawares by the deluge of people who came, mistakenly thinking that the dates you had announced in your Web site were the only windows they had available to enroll. Confirming their fear of not beating the deadline was a similar letter from the GSIS that mentioned nothing about the fact that they could have enrolled in the program themselves at a later time via a self-service kiosk at the Consulate.

You may think it was no big deal to ask people to come back another time, but your repeated announcements for them to do so if they chose was a display of bureaucratic callousness, insensitivity and utter disregard for the hellish experience they were being subjected to.

Did you know that many of those in the audience were domestic helpers and caregivers who had to give up a day’s worth of pay just to make it to the Consulate? And what about those that had to stay overnight and ended up paying for hotel and other expenses because of your poor management, chaotic system and lack of foresight and organization?

And what if one of those ailing elderly people had died while in your premises (some of them had bad asthma attacks while waiting), would you have had the face to explain their deaths to their families? And what about the ensuing lawsuits that could have been slapped on you?

Early in the day, when the problem first manifested itself, some firm and creative leadership could have turned things around. Many people are furious, and you may want to learn more about how they feel by visiting one of the blogs some of them have posted on the Internet(http://pierceram2.blogspot.com/).

It was ironic that while the chaos was happening all around you, you were also making a pitch for people to visit and invest in the Philippines. But how can you convince us to go back home when you have allowed a bad situation to deteriorate to the point where some elderly pensioners had to stay until close to 2 a.m., brave the cold outside and fend for themselves to grab a taxi ride home?

I know that hindsight is always 20/20, and I hope that this sad episode will teach everyone a lesson within the Philippine bureaucracy. Or would this just be a bleep in your radar screen, not unlike the many disasters that have occurred in the Philippines where officials make a lot of noises only in their aftermath and then do nothing about preventing them from ever happening again?

Otherwise, I am very afraid for the future of the homeland. Many thanks for your time.

Sincerely yours,

Tim Ramos