MANILA, Philippines -- A group of public school teachers protested the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) office in Pasay City on Tuesday to protest its alleged "oppressive and exploitative policies" and called on its president and general manager Winston Garcia to resign.

But GSIS executive vice-president for corporate support Enriqueta P. Disuanco denied the allegations of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and branded them as "unfair."

"The pent-up anger of teachers and other government employees against the oppressive policies of GSIS under Winston Garcia cannot be underestimated," said Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) chairperson Antonio Tinio.

He added that Garcia was "unfairly recouping" billions of pesos worth of losses sustained by the GSIS due to years of alleged "inefficiency, mismanagement, and corruption" through "unjust and erroneous deductions" from benefits of its members.

"In many cases, GSIS is so ruthless in demanding its pound of flesh that retirees are left with nothing," Tinio said.

Aside from conducting a program outside GSIS, the group also set up a complaints? desk where teachers reported their grievances against the agency.

Most complaints were over alleged "onerous interests and surcharges" imposed upon members and other erroneous records of the GSIS, said ACT secretary general Francisca Castro.

She added that there were also complaints regarding retirement benefits, salary loans, and life insurance maturity, among others.

ACT also called for the writing-off of "onerous" interests, penalties, and surcharges and demanded for the full-payment of benefits and immediate refunds to members who were victims of the GSIS' alleged unjust deductions.

"We are documenting the complaints, [and] then we'll submit them to the GSIS for urgent action," Castro said.

Among those who vented out their grievances was Candida Tiglao, a 68 year-old retired public school teacher, who claimed that she has not received a single centavo of her pension since retiring in 2005 after serving for almost 24 years.

Tiglao said the GSIS automatically withheld her 18-month lump sum and her monthly pension as payment for the housing loan she availed in 1998 in the form of a deed of conditional sale (DCS) which stipulated that failure to pay three consecutive monthly installments would render the sale cancelled and all previous payments would be considered as rent.

Tiglao's DCS was cancelled in 2002 and the property has since been foreclosed by the GSIS. But her loan continued to increase due to compounded interest and by 2007, has ballooned to P1.69 million.

Tiglao said she was not able to live in the house but despite this, the GSIS still demanded her to pay the loan through her pension until 2012.

"I was penniless when I retired... Ito ba ang hinihintay ng mga teachers sa aming [Is this what the teachers are waiting for on their] retirement day? Ito ba ang ipinagmamalaki ng pamahalaan ni Gloria Arroyo at Winston Garcia? [Is this what the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Winston Garcia boasting of]?" Tiglao said.

Disuanco said those who were complaining were experiencing difficulty in paying off their loans and did not represent the majority of GSIS members.

She added that the teachers might have been "delinquent in a way" in terms of paying their loans that is why they were experiencing difficulties.

"Kung 'di ka naman delingkwente hindi ka naman mahihirapan [You should not find it difficult to pay your loans, if you are not delinquent]," Disuanco said.

She also denied allegations by teachers that the GSIS deliberately failed to deduct from their contributions and loan payments from their monthly salaries so that the agency could compound the interest for the money to earn more for the agency.

The GSIS submits weekly deduction reports and it is the Department of Education's task to deduct the amount from the teacher's salaries, Disuanco said.

However, there would be times when the DepEd would fail to deduct the loan payments from the teachers? salaries, Disuanco admitted.

"Kapag kasi may utang pa ang mga teachers sa ibang lending institutions at mababawasan na ang kanilang required take-home pay na P3,000 [This is because if the teachers have loans from other lending institutions and the teachers? take-home pay would go lower than the required P3,000], the DepEd no longer deducts the payment to GSIS," Disuanco said.

She added that based on their last computation, the DepEd has some P7 billion in debt to the GSIS due to failed deductions of contributions and payments and that Garcia had been communicating with DepEd to settle these accounts.

Nevertheless, Disuanco urged public school teachers to present their documents to the GSIS so that they could fix their records.

As of posting time, teachers were talking to GSIS officials in the agency's gymnasium where their complaints against the agency's heads were being heard.

Disuanco also defended Garcia, saying that calling for his resignation from the GSIS was unfair since he had implemented many "reforms" like computerizing and centralizing members? records.

It was also after Garcia assumed office in 2001 that the GSIS? income had increased to P40 billion annually from the previous P13 billion, allowing the agency to support its members? benefits until 2056, Disuanco said.

"Let us look at his accomplishments," she added.