By Ruby Bernardo
Chairperson
Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Philippines
In view of the Government Service Insurance System’s (GSIS) implementation of a three-month grace period or moratorium on the payment of emergency loans, we the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) want to emphasize that what teachers and GSIS members need is direct support and social security benefits — not another cycle of debt deferments that only compound interests and arrears.
Teachers and education workers do not need yet another moratorium that merely defers our burden. After every disaster, our people are left to fend for themselves while their debts quietly grow. What we need is immediate financial aid and real support from the very institutions meant to ensure social security and safeguard our welfare.
Most public school teachers and government workers have far less capacity to recover and rebuild because salaries remain far from decent and livable standards, pushing many to borrow repeatedly just to make ends meet.
Hindi utang ang kailangan ng mga guro at kawani — agarang tulong at benepisyo mula sa pondong para sa amin. Noong pandemya, moratorium ang inialok pero humantong lang sa compounded interests at arrears. Huwag na nating ulitin ang parehong paraan na lalong naglulubog sa amin sa utang.
As to GSIS’ reported speculative and gambling-related investments and losses, funds should have been aligned to members’ welfare and disaster response instead.
To immediately protect members and pensioners, we urge the GSIS to implement the following: release P20,000 Emergency Social Security Cash Aid to all members and pensioners in calamity-stricken areas, without need for new loans; enforce calamity moratoriums with zero compounding interest, zero penalties, and no capitalization of unpaid interest; reduce loan interest rates to genuinely affordable levels; waive surcharges during declared states of calamity; reorient investments away from high-risk and gambling-related instruments toward safe, development-oriented placements that directly benefit members; and publish a full accounting of investment exposures and performance; submit to an independent and Commission on Audit-led special audit.
We demand compensation for all victims of calamities as part of exacting accountability from officials, lawmakers, and contractors implicated in corruption in flood-control projects, as well as from large corporations whose profit-driven operations degrade the environment and heighten disaster risks.
Our kababayans are left to drown—literally and economically—because those in power have prioritized profit over people. It is time to demand compensation, and exact accountability and justice.