Sunday, December 17, 2006 GSIS GW@PS kiosk inaugurated in Abra
AFTER a week-long campaign and enrolment to the second generation eCard plus of the Government Service Insurance system (GSIS), wireless automated processing system (Gw@ps) kiosk was finally launched and inaugurated at the New Social Hall of the Provincial Capitol on Friday.
The unveiling ceremony of the GSIS Gw@ps kiosk was led by GSIS Senior Vice President Josefina Valera and Governor Vicente Valera, followed by an actual demonstration by the municipal employees of Bangued who applied for a consolidated loan (conso-loan) to show how the Gw@ps kiosk works in just a few minutes of paperless transaction.
Abra is the first in Northern Luzon installed with the GSIS Gw@ps kiosk due to the difficulty of access by its members to the regional centers where GSIS branch offices are located.
Loans available thru the Gw@ps kiosk are the conso-loan and cash advance of P10,000. The old GSIS eCard offers only a P5,000 cash advance. Housing loan can not be transacted thru this system.
Conso-loans are computed based on the length of service of the member. A member with 15 years or more in service can avail of a 10-months salary equivalent.
Governor Valera expressed appreciation to the people of Abra for their support to the new GSIS program as indicated by a 98% turnout of enrollees among the more than 1,000 members in the province.
Even members remitting their premiums in other branches like the Baguio City branch have willingly enrolled as well.
The new eCard Plus is not limited to the active GSIS members alone. It is also offered to old-age pensioners as well as survivor pensioners who are still active members of the system.
SVP Valera said the case of the employees whose benefits have been suspended due to non-remittance of premiums by their agencies or LGUs. The benefits, she said, could be given back after a memorandum of agreement with the agency heads and the GSIS, penalties of which could be condoned and terms for installment payments could be restructured to allow the GSIS members to avail of their benefits.
“In the first place, it is not the fault of the employees hence, they must not suffer the consequences of the negligence of their heads,” she said.
The GSIS top brass also announced the release of dividend payments of both the regular and optional policies. However, members are advised to wait for text message from the GSIS when they could withdraw from any ATM of Megalink, Bancnet and Expressnet.
The almost two weeks activities prior to the Gw@ps kiosk inauguration were facilitated by a team headed by Vilma Padilla, one of the division chiefs of GSIS La Union branch.
