TACLOBAN CITY -- The Government Services Insurance System (GSIS) in Eastern Visayas will accept emergency loan applications from those affected by the flooding in February, an official has said.

Romana Lacaba, technical assistant to the GSIS regional manager Maria Erlinda Roman, said Monday that members from the provinces of Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar would be qualified to apply for the P20,000 emergency loan, which will be payable in three years.

The flooding last February resulted in the death of 16 persons, dislocated 500,000 individuals, and destroyed property worth P500 million.

But Lacaba could not explain why Leyte was excluded from the areas covered by calamity loans when the province was declared under a state of calamity after experiencing flooding last February.

Lacaba said they received from their central office last Friday the guidelines for the emergency or calamity loans.

She explained that extending a calamity or emergency loan to their members would require a long process.

"Declaring an area under a state of calamity is just one of the processes. The matter has to be tackled by the members of our board [in Manila]," Lacaba said.

The estimated 34,000 members from these provinces can process their loan application on-line and that they could get the money, upon the release of the loan amount, from automated teller machines in the cities of Catbalogan (for Samar) and Borongan (Eastern Samar) and Catarman for Northern Samar.

Those who will avail of this loan from the GSIS have until August 4 to process their loan application, she said.

Meanwhile, the Home Mutual Development Fun (Pag-Ibig) has started extending loans to its members from Leyte province.

Flordelis Menzon, Pag-Ibig Fund regional manager, said that a member could borrow up to 80 percent of total accumulated value of his savings.