Garcia to be Booted Out of GSIS---Finally!

Garcia is on the way out. This news from ABS-CBN:

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III said Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President and General Manager Winston Garcia will soon be replaced.

"It's just a matter of talking to his replacement," Aquino said in a Malacanang briefing on Wednesday.

Previously, Aquino said the person being eyed to replace Garcia, a banker, is in the process of working out the details of his exit from the private sector.

Garcia, who was appointed by former President Gloria Arroyo, has been involved in several controversies. He was acquitted last year by the Court of Appeals of graft in connection with the purchase of paintings by two Filipino national artists worth more than $1 million in 2002.

The GSIS chief has also drawn flak from several sectors, especially GSIS members, for his alleged mismanagement of the state-pension fund agency.

Malaya Columnists Wants GSIS Audited

In his Sept. 2, 2008 column, Ray O. Arcilla, a Malaya columnist, has this to say about the incompetence of the GSIS under petty bureaucrat Winston Garcia.

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has asked the Commission on Audit (COA) to audit the books of Meralco. Fine. But many believe COA should also audit GSIS.

GSIS claims that an audit of Meralco would reveal a can of worms. Many believe that an audit of GSIS would unravel not a can, but a barrel, of worms.

***

The GSIS introduced the eCard System Plus to pay the pension of its retirees more than two years ago. But some 700 in the United States (by GSIS' own admission) have not been paid their pension. There are more in other foreign countries. At an average of P300,000 each, a conservative figure, GSIS owes these people P210,000,000. Where is that money? Is it earning interest for the pensioners concerned?

GSIS says these pensioners have not been paid because they have not enrolled in the eCard System. How the heck can they do that when they have to travel long distances to enroll in GSIS kiosks in just four locations in the US, namely, Los Angeles , San Francisco , Chicago and New York ?

GSIS finally decided to close down the kiosks. They were not effective in enrolling the pensioners in the eCard system. Instead, GSIS resorted to using the website www.skype.com to enroll the unpaid retirees.

At first, GSIS President Winston Garcia made a show of communicating directly with Ambassador Rodolfo Arizala who lives in Santiago, Chile , to tell him about Skype. Arizala was told to buy a laptop and other paraphernalia just so he can be enrolled in the eCard system. After a painstaking process, Arizala finally got his back pension.

Arizala's experience was a breeze compared to that of Adelaida Fajilago (ilijansimara@yahoo.com), another GSIS retiree confined to a nursing home in New York because of a severe stroke.

Listen to what her brother-in-law said about Adelaida's experience:

"In my view, this e-Card and voice verification requirements re pension payment of my sister-in-law Adelaida Fajilago is an inconvenience not only for the pensioner but also for her family.
"Her family was required to prepare a computer unit with webcam capability, and to enroll at skype.com to have an account for the pensioner. Since there was no available internet access in the nursing home for this purpose, Adelaida's family took the risk - due to her health condition - to take her home for said purpose, plus the fact that it was daytime there and night time here. While to travel is not convenient for Adelaida Fajilago, her family did the best way possible in order to comply with the GSIS requirements.

"The process started a little bit past 8 p.m. here with the GSIS asking Adelaida questions about her work, residence while still there in the Philippines, and other questions to verify her identity; then they took pictures of Adelaida with two (2) identification cards, and asked additional questions about her address and situation here.
"Then the voice verification followed. Adelaida was asked to count from zero to nine three times while the GSIS personnel were taking voice recording; it took a while doing this part since there were instances when Adelaida's voice was low and could not be captured by the recording; there was an instance when she started at one instead of zero; there was an instance when she counted up to ten instead of up to nine only. It appeared to me that the count from one to nine must be clear and identical/similar, as much as possible, three times. Any error meant it must be repeated.

"When all the requirements were accomplished to their satisfaction, Adelaida's family asked them as to how long it will take to process the e-card...to which they answered, they will do their best so that Adelaida can have it before her birthday this coming September 10. I am not sure when the e-card would arrive here and what would be the next step."

Adelaida's brother-in-law added:

"Prior to this e-card/voice verification requirements adopted by the GSIS relating to pension payments, Adelaida had complied with all documents required by the GSIS relating to her pension benefits/payments; at the same time, she executed in favor of her eldest son a Power of Attorney for this purpose.

"Now that the GSIS has identified/proven that indeed Adelaida is a pensioner/alive, would it not be rational for the GSIS, and in fairness to Adelaida, to release her accrued lump sum pension to her son by virtue of the Power of Attorney

EDUCATION SECRETARY HITS A BRICK WALL

The education secretary has a beef with the GSIS for its failure to address the discrepancies in its records with regard to teachers' contributions in the pension fund.

He complains that instead of facing the issue headlong, the GSIS resorts to propaganda using its vast media resources to drown out his legitimate complaint on behalf of the teachers.

"These problems can't be solved with GSIS public relations campaigns but with the real overhaul of GSIS members' servicing system," said Secretary Jeslie Lapus, according to a report in a Manila newspaper.

"Our teachers are the biggest contributors to GSIS. It is only proper that they be given special attention by GSIS," he said. But his grievance has hit a brick wall.

Winston Garcia, acting totally in character, pushed back, saying it is Lapus who is to blame. The GSIS, he said, is "ready to make the necessary corrections as long as the DepEd submits to us the updated service records."

The only problem here is that Garcia's rhetoric does not match the reality.

The aggrieved teachers, however, should not lose hope. His protector, the corrupt Macapagal-Arroyo regime, is now on its death throes.

When the time comes, people should look back at the tenure of this totally inept bureaucrat to find out to what the extent his incompetence has harmed the public he is supposed to serve.

GSIS PAID HACKS AT IT AGAIN

Malacañang is running a Web site where citizens may air their complaints or ask for help. It contains a forum devoted to GSIS, and none of the entries by citizens has anything good to say about the current GSIS leadership.

One of the entries is by a certain Mang Pandoy, which is obviously a pen name of a GSIS paid hack. In it, this Mang Pandoy alleges that the author of this blog is somehow connected to a New York-based newspaper out to tarnish the reputation of Winston Garcia, GSIS president, as pay back for GSIS' refusal to advertise in the newspaper.

The accusation, of course, is flat wrong. This blog has no association with that newspaper in any way, shape or form.

Garcia should focus his attention on addressing legitimate grievances against his excretable performance at the GSIS instead of unleashing his paid hacks to do a snow job on his failed leadership. To the intelligent citizens, self-serving press releases and asinine comments from the GSIS serve no purpose, not even as an a-- wipe.

THEY'RE RUNNING A SCAM AT GSIS

At best, GSIS can be accused of false advertising. At worst, it is running a scam.

Our father has finally received his eCard in the mail after months of waiting - a wait that started with a hellish experience at the start of the enrollment process to obtain the card at the Philippine Consulate General in New York City last March 9 (see the earliest post in this blog for a full picture of that chaotic and bizarre bureaurcratic f---up)).

As instructed, our father dutifully filled out the UnionBank card that accompanied his eCard with his specimen signature and eCard information and mailed it back to the GSIS. However, since his birth month is in August, which is just a few days away, he followed the advice of the Consulate to have it validated in August. This will save him an extra trip. GSIS requires that pensioners have their card validated once it arrives and then to have it validated annually during their birth month. Going to the Consulate in August just makes perfect sense.


But here comes a letter from the GSIS asking him to activate his UionBank account by calling a toll-free 800 number. After trying to call for hours and getting a busy signal each time, he called up his phone company and sought their help in dialing the supposedly toll-free number.

And guess what? The phone company said he had to call a special number where he found out that the toll-free call was not free at all. It required him to cough up close to $8 to make the call.

GSIS should not advertise this number as toll-free when it is not. Our guess is that it has entered into an agreement with a phone company to extract charges. Whatever it is, GSIS should clearly spell this out in its mailings.

It was their failure to communicate in the first place that got them into trouble with the eCard.

The GSIS media office has a tendency to exaggerate and, as a result, ends up churning out propaganda and confusing people.

Some news reports have indicated that Winston Garcia spends oodles of money for propaganda purposes, besting all other government agencies.

But for such an enormous amount of pensioners' money spent on prettifying his image, how come they cannot get their facts straight?

YOUR RETIREMENT MONEY MATTERS

The latest controversy surrounding the inept chairman of the GSIS offers a glimpse into the backroom deal-makings that occur within the corrupt Macapagal-Arroyo regime.

Some congressmen have come up with some serious allegations against GSIS boss Winston Garcia, and it is not pretty. But this bozo who heads the GSIS seems to carry so much clout with Macapagal-Arroyo so that, despite his many blunders and indiscretions, he remains in office.

Now he is pulling all stops to install his cadaverous father as speaker of the House. Whose money is he using to gain the support of lawmakers? Your guess is as good as ours.

IS GSIS MONEY BEING USED TO FINANCE SPEAKERSHIP BID?

In his column appearing in the June 16th online edition of Malaya, Lito Banayo has this to reveal: "A challenger is being accused of buying the votes of congressmen, allegedly using, not his money, but the funds of government employees tied up to the pension fund he manages."

This allegation is also coming from at least four congressmen who are accusing Winston Garcia of the same shenanigan. They allege that GSIS funds and assets are being used to finance the bid of someone from Cebu, related to the GSIS honcho, to unseat Jose De Venecia as House speaker.

Some reports claim that as much as P300,000 is being offered to any congressman whose support is crucial to clinch the speakership.

The GSIS is flushed with money as it has been witholding the pension of thousands of retirees and other beneficiaries for many months now.

It requires that they first register in the failed eCard program before their money can be released. But since the eCard does not work in many instances, the GSIS is able to hold on to their money, allowing it to earn interest. In the meantime, it has created a Catch-22 situation for the pensioners.

By rights, the interest that these monies earned should be given to the pensioners --it is their money, after all -- but now it seems clear why Garcia insists on punishing them with non-payment of their pension.

We shall leave it to our discerning readers where the pensioners' money is going in light of these ugly revelations.

MORE BAD PUBLICTY FOR THE COUNTRY

As the days go by with no end in sight to the incompetence of Winston Garcia, the GSIS failed eCard program continues to generate bad publicity for the state pension fund -- and by extension to the image of the homeland in the United States.

Last evening's newscast of Balitang America, for instance, carried the sad stories of different pensioners in the United States who continue to encounter problems with the eCard.

The pensioners are paying for the half-assed implementation of this program conceived and thoughtlessly executed by Winston Garcia. Pensioners who enrolled in the eCard program in March are either still waiting for their cards to arrive in the mail or if they have already received them are left with cards that do not work.

That they are being made to suffer the consequences of GSIS's utter incompetence is totally incomprehensible.

Garcia's eCard is a vile and silent assault on the pensioners' welfare.

IT'S TIME FOR GARCIA THE BOZO TO GO!

DECONSTRUCTING GSIS' RESPONSE

If you read the attached GSIS response to complaints against the eCard, it is plain to see how they are totally out of touch with reality.

With all due respect, Ms. Enriqueta P. Disuanco, GSIS executive VP for operations, try as she might, has really nothing substantial to say about the total meltdown of this ill-conceived plan that collectively punishes pensioners in order to rid the system of scammers.

The GSIS' response to the New York City enrollment disaster was to send more people, at the pension fund's expense, to the United States on what amounts to a junket. And have they really improved their processes? The answer to that is a long list of the same complaints from pensioners, some of which you may read for yourself through the links we have provided when you scroll down this blog.

Technology is supposed to make people's lives better. By this measure, the eCard program is a totally scatological product of Winston Garcia's mind that he has imposed on the pensioners without any thought of its harsh effects on the ailing and elderly pensioners.

The eCard's stated goal is to make it easier for people to receive their pension checks but the opposite is happening. Pensioners are being made to jump through hoops to obtain the excretable eCard. And once they do finally get it, they are left with a card that not all banks in the Philippines would honor.

By making it extremely difficult to obtain their pension, is the real GSIS agenda here to make people give up in the face of the enormous bureaucratic red tape that Garcia has set up so that their pension would help line up the pockets of some corrupt politicians and petty bureaucratic tyrants?

The eCard requires pensioners to make a yearly trip to the kiosks, a heavy financial and physical burden on their part, to prove that they are still alive. Even the most tecnologically advanced country in the world, which is the United States, has not experimented on its pensioners in this inhumane manner. And the reason for this is obvious: pensioners' money cannot be witheld for such a prolonged period of time as the GSIS has done because pension is money already earned by a lifetime of service to the nation.

It is sacred money that they had won through blood, sweat and tears. No one in his right mind should tinker with it for any reason --- as Garcia has so blightly taken liberty with doing.

But Garcia is totally oblivious to these fine points that separate decent humanity from their relatives residing at the Manila Zoo.

FINALLY, A RESPONSE FROM GSIS. BUT WAIT, WHERE IN THE WORLD IS WINSTON GARCIA?

Tim Ramos, one of our blog correspondents, has received a response from one of Winston Garcia's subalterns. Sorta. The response acknowledges that there are problems with the eCard, but it touches only on the fiasco that occurred last March 9 at the Philippine Consulate General in New York.

It remains silent on what the GSIS intends to do to pensioners in terms of renumerating them for the gross injustice that the agency has done to them: namely, witholding their pension for months on end, and in some cases in the Philippines starving those people who depend solely on their pension to survive in their old age.

The letter to Tim Ramos, sent by the VP for operations of the GSIS, does not address the fundamental issue of the disaster-prone eCard system --- which is to say that Garcia must be held accountable for this ill-conceived program that has collectively punished pensioners as he pursues his fantasy of "catapulting" the Philippines on top of the IT totem pole.

It must be noted that throughout this entire ugly episode, Garcia himself has remained silent, as though he is above and beyond the despicable situation that he himself has created.

Courtesy dictates that he should himself answer the valid issues raised against his leadership. But it seems to us that he looks down on these complaints with disdain, as though serving his constituency is beneath him.

Tim Ramos, writing to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, which prompted the GSIS response, has this to say:

"Thank you for following up on my complaints. While I appreciate your efforts, I am totally disappointed with Mr. Winston Garcia who remains silent throughout this episode and has chosen to use his subalterns to respond to the valid complaints against his incompetent leadership.

"His continued stint in office despite the many complaints against his failure of leadership only deepens the suspicion that the Philippines rewards incompetence. The eCard, despite what the GSIS says, is not doing the pensioners any good.

"Mr. Garcia is the number one reason why the Philippines' image is so bruised before the eyes of pensioners in the United States and those of their friends and relatives. With Garcia around and doing damage to your efforts to project a good image for the country, you might as well kiss goodbye to WOW Philippines."

STILL WAITING FOR THE ECARD

The horror show that is the GSIS under petty bureaucratic tyrant Winston Garcia is unending.

My dad was finally processed for his eCard at the self-serve kiosk at the Philippine Consulate. But wait. Now he is being told that he has to wait for close to two months before he could lay his hands on the eCard. Not only that, he won't be able to start using it unless he again shows up at the Consulate to have it validated.

And since his birthday will be in August, he has to show up -- yet again -- during his birth month to prove that he is still alive.

What kind of idiotic system is that which punishes pensioners with unnecessary trips to the Consulate, wasting pensioners' time and money getting snarled in New York City traffic just to satisfy Garcia's delusional requirement?

The eCard is definitely not a user-friendly system. And if Garcia has half a pea's brain, he should start thinking of a better way to do this thing.

The sad thing is that getting the eCard is only half the trouble. The greatest hurdle still to come remains: will it ever work, judging on a string of complaints heard from pensioners in places like Iloilo who have said that a lot of banks don't even honor the card?

STILL NO CALL FROM THE CONSULATE

On March 9, pensioners waited for an eternity to obtain their eCard at the Philippine Consulate in New York. But because the eCard was (is) not ready for prime time, many of the pensioners were told to come back another time and register through the self-serve kiosks.

As unacceptable as that proposal may be considering that they had to rearrange their schedule on pain that they would lose their pension if they did not make it, they decided to heed the advice of the Consul General. And the advice was for them to just come back another time as soon as the kiosk was set up "in two weeks."

Well, it has been almost two months, and each time my father calls the Consulate, he gets the same excuse: just be patient because the GSIS biometric machine is not yet working.

In the meantime, his pension sits in the bank.

Now, the big question becomes: Is Winston Garcia giving pensioners the interest their money has accrued during the period of time that Garcia has deprived them of their pension?

PAGING GARCIA!!! BUT IS HE LISTENING?

Th correspondence office at Malacanang has written a referral letter to Winston Garcia asking him to comment on the complaints of Tim Ramos, one of our blog correspondents, regarding the mistreatment of pensioners in New York City last March 9.

But we can bet our bottom dollar that this letter will go unanswered, just as a similar letter from the chief of staff of Sen. Mar Roxas has been rudely ignored by Garcia up to this day.

After all, the letter-writer is just a mere functionary at the office of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

As far as Garcia is concerned, letters from sources other than the appointing power herself do not count. If he can play dumb about the plight of pensioners who are ailing and elderly and are being deprived of their pension because of his arrogant management style, why should he care about such a "nuisance"?

His continued lack of concern IS ONE MORE COMPELLING REASON WHY IT'S TIME FOR THIS BOZO TO GO!

GARCIA IS COLLECTIVELY PUNISHING PENSIONERS

The failed eCard program that Winston Garcia is implementing with no regard for its bad consequence amounts to nothing but collective punishment. And the aggrieved party in this case is the elderly and mostly ailing government pensioners.

In order to prevent scammers from continuing to collect the pension checks of dead relatives, he has embarked on the eCard program that is intended to stop the fradulent practice.

And we have no quarrel with that, except that the new technology that he promotes is not working. Let's admit for the sake of argument that the ailing pension system was fraught with loopholes that scammers could exploit, but what's incredible is that the cure that Garcia has prescribed for the disease is worse than the symptoms.

The result, of course, is total chaos and disaster. The pensioners have stopped getting their pension for months, and some press reports indicate that there are cases of those not receiving theirs for up to a year.

Being a lawyer, Garcia should know that collectively punishing a group of people for some rotten apples in their midst is against the grain of civilized society. Only the Nazis and some incorrigible dictators in history have done that, like Joseph Stalin, a former Catholic seminarian like Garcia.

For collectively punishing the pensioners in pursuit of his twisted dream to supposedly catapult the Philippines atop the "IT totem pole" is immoral.

When you put pensioners' welfare at risk in a unilateral manner, as Garcia has done in this case, you cross the line. No one has the right to tinker with the elderly's life in any way, shape or form. They have served their country loyally and well and they deserve nothing but the best service that the government can offer in their twilight years.

And, by the way, it's not true that only the Philipines, as he claims, is using some sort of eCard. The U.S. Food Stamps program has been using this system for years. But the huge difference is that their card works. Beneficiaries show up at the Welfare office, are given the card in no time, and start using it seamlessly on their next visit to the supermarket.

The operative word here is seamless, none of the hassles and aggravation that Garcia's foolhardy project has created. And none of his lame excuses either.

IT'S TIME FOR GARCIA TO GO!

GARCIA: GSIS' GREATEST NON-PERFORMING (ASS)et

Winston Garcia is not without his defenders. Paid hacks and apologists abound in his backyard to do his bidding to cloud valid issues raised against his inept leadership rather than address them.

Winston Garcia's ill-conceived eCard is destroying pensioners' lives in the Philippines. Instead of easing the burden of pensioners in their twilight years, he is adding on to it with his failed eCard program.

The result has been financially disastrous to them and their family whose budget --nay, to many their very survival -- hinges upon their measly monthly pension.

We totally agree with the sentiment of his paid hacks: Garcia is the biggest (what is the appropriate word to use --FATTEST?) non-performing ASS(et) of the Macapagal Arroyo fake government. No one, absolutely no one, can argue with that.

He occupies so much space at the GSIS building for doing nothing.

IT'S TIME TO THROW THIS BOZO OUT.

THE PROBLEM WITH GARCIA

The problem with Winston Garcia is that he apparently fancies himself to be such a lover of fine arts that he took the liberty of spending pensioners' money on a painting whose questionable value does nothing to add to the pension fund.

His skewed priority does not end there. He issues ghost-written press releases (nonsense drivel, really, because they do not reflect reality -- remember his wild and delusional claim about putting the Philippines on top of the IT totem pole with his failed eCard?) about his supposed great performance at the GSIS and is now starting to believe them.

It was Winston Churchill who said: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Thankfully, we are now in the digital age, and whatever BIG lies Garcia foists upon an unsuspecting public won't stand.

He claims he has performed well on the job, but the long list of complaints against his failure of leadership says otherwise. Scroll down to the end of this blog, and you will see for yourself how he is screwing the pensioners BIG time while claiming he is good for the agency.

Good for what? For fattening himself at the expense of the pensioners with his excretable eCard?

It is time for this petty tyrant to RESIGN. Macapagal Arroyo should kick his fat ass off that manager's swivel chair.

The pensioners do not deserve this inept and incompetent political lackey.

BEWARE OF GARCIA'S PAID MEDIA HACKS

A columnist in a Manila newspaper is parroting Winston Garcia's line that the problem with Garcia's harebrained idea (i.e., the failed eCard) is not the unilateral and Gestapo-like implementation of this program but the people's "resistance" to new technology.

But repeating such a skewed and stupid screed just won't fly, and it leaves us wondering how much government money is Garcia spending to get a good press.

Who do they think they're kidding?

How about simply admitting for once, Mr. Garcia, that what this all boils down to is your failure of leadership. In short, it's your incompetence, stupid, that's causing all the problems associated with the eCard.

Your asking people to personally enroll at the consulates in LA, San Francisco, New York and Chicago last March only to be told to come back another time after rearranging their lives just to be there was unconscionable.

They showed up after being implicitly told that their appearance was needed, or else they would lose their pension, only to be confronted with biometric machines that did not work.

The pensioners are all for keeping their pension safe from scammers (some of whom are GSIS employees themselves who extracted a slice of the pension check before releasing it, according to some pensioners) but they won't stand for incompetence in its implementation.

IT'S TIME FOR WINSTON GARCIA TO GO!

CALIFORNIA PENSIONER STILL WAITING FOR HER eCARD

Something's definitely fishy with the eCard.

My mom has just received a phone call from her sister-in-law in Anaheim, California. Tita Virgie, who was patient enough to wait for her turn at the Philippine Consulate in LA to be fingerprinted, has still to receive her eCard. It's been over a month since she enrolled in the program.

She was told she would get the eCard in the mail in three weeks.

Now the question must be asked: why are pensioners not getting what is due them in a timely fashion?

Is the delay in the release of their pension a scheme to use their money elsewhere in the meantime? Like funding the election bid of the administration's senatorial bets?

Just asking.

GARCIA IS DISRESPECTFUL

Almost a month after the office of Sen. Mar Roxas had sent Winston Garcia a referral letter concerning the complaints of Tim Ramos, this petty bureaucratic tyrant has deemed not to respond.

His continuing silence shows how he disrespects valid grievances against his department. Or it can also mean that he is guilty as charged.

Which is which Winston Garcia?

PETTY TYRANT AT GSIS TORMENTING PENSIONERS

(Charlie Chaplin in "The Great Dictator")

Reading the sad story in the link hidden in the headline of this piece (yes, you have to click on the headline of this post to reveal the story) manifests the lack of heart exhibited by a petty tyrant in the person of Winston Garcia. The response of his people to the valid complaints of the pensioners is similar to the craven and arrogant attitude of the crittens he sent to New York City to enroll pensioners there.

How this man is able to cling to power, torment pensioners and bring them closer to death in frustration over his inhumane policies is beyond me!

What kind of blackmail does he possess against Macapagal Arroyo that he is able to hold onto power as chairman and president of GSIS?