MANILA, Philippines — A female employee of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) had tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), prompting the state-run pension fund to close its offices in Pasay and Quezon City for 30 days.
Aside from its Metro Manila offices, GSIS will also close its offices in some parts of Mindanao until April 15.
GSIS President and General Manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet on Monday revealed that the female employee had a travel history to Japan and started manifesting symptoms on March 7.
Macasaet did not say if the employee was already included in the Department of Health’s (DOH) tally of persons afflicted with COVID-19, though a document released by the department stated that there is a patient undergoing treatment at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pasay.
“She was admitted at the San Juan de Dios Hospital on March 11, where lab tests subsequently showed that she was indeed positive for the COVID-19 virus,” Macasaet said in a statement.
The agency is currently in the process of contact tracing and the employee gave them a list of persons she was in close physical contact with from March 7 to March 11, he added.
All the persons on the list were also notified and advised to undergo self-quarantine and to report if they experience symptoms of the virus.
Macasaet will also undergo self-quarantine, he said, as he had close physical contact with several of the individuals listed by the COVID-19-positive employee.
“I feel well and am not showing symptoms. But just as a precautionary measure, I had myself tested for COVID-19 and while waiting for the results, I am placing myself on self-quarantine for the time being,” the GSIS official said.
The GSIS building in Pasay City, which was previously closed to the public for sanitation and disinfection last March 12, will continue to be closed until April 15.
The GSIS management also decided to close the agency’s branch office in Mindanao Avenue, Quezon City to the public for 30 days.
Work in branch offices in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City was also ordered suspended after several employees experienced symptoms. The employees are currently waiting for their lab test results.
Meanwhile, Macasaet said that all other GSIS branch offices and extension offices across the country will remain open to the public.
“I would like to assure the public that GSIS has a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place, and that our financial services will continue to flow unimpeded to our pensioners and members,” he said.
Business continuity plan in place
Despite the lockdown, the GSIS head office in Pasay and its branch in Quezon City will continue to operate and will be manned by a skeletal workforce on rotational duty, said Macasaet.
Entry to the said offices, however, will be highly restricted and limited only to the following persons/parties: GSIS members (with Umid cards) who want to avail of loans through the GWAPS kiosk; GSIS members who need to pick-up their GFAL top-up cheques; and private lending institutions who need to pick-up their GFAL cheques.
All other GSIS branches and extension offices will be open to the public, according to Macasaet. “I would like to assure the public that the GSIS has a business continuity plan in place, and that our financial services will continue to flow unimpeded to our pensioners and members.”
For instance, Macasaet pointed to the GSIS’s “file anywhere” policy, under which “government agencies based in Quezon City can submit their claims to GSIS Bulacan, and GSIS Bulacan will be able to process their claims.”
“Individual members can also apply for a loan in any of our branches or GWAPS kiosks nearest them. Almost all of our systems and processes in the GSIS are automated and computerized, and this allows us to provide our pensioners and members ‘anytime-anywhere’ access to our services,” he said.
Also, “in order to eliminate the need for agency authorized officers (AAOs) and liaison officers (LOs) to go to the GSIS, applications for retirement/separation benefits, life insurance claims and over-the-counter loan applications may be submitted through designated drop boxes in the central office or via email to their membership coordinator,” Macasaet said, adding that “the operations group of the GSIS is currently coordinating the details of this interim measure to the various AAOs and LOs of government agencies.”
“Old-age pensioners who are experiencing problems accessing their pensions should report their concerns via the GSIS contact center at telephone 8-847-4747. A GSIS call center agent will be on hand to address their concerns,” he added.
Over the weekend, the GSIS said it extended by two more months the deadline to apply for its loan program being made available to members who wanted to transfer existing borrowings from loan sharks.
But in a statement last Saturday, the pension fund said it will temporarily decline applications from all over the country for the GSIS financial assistance loan (GFAL) during the one-month community quarantine of Metro Manila aimed at containing the COVID-19 disease.
“We assure our members that those who were not able to avail of GFAL can always apply at a later date since we will extend the program until Sept. 30,” Macasaet said, as the program was supposed to end in July.
“All GFAL applications that were submitted to GSIS branch offices on or before March 13 will be duly processed and acted upon by GSIS personnel. The temporary suspension aims to discourage GSIS members from going to the pension fund’s branch offices, in compliance with President Duterte’s directive to minimize human-to-human contact, and contain the spread of the COVID-19,” Macasaet said.
“Aside from the submission of loan documents, the GSIS requires all GFAL applicants to attend a financial literacy and loan counselling seminar as a prerequisite to loan approval. The GSIS cannot be conducting financial literacy seminars with the current emergency situation we have,” Macasaet pointed out.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and will be issuing further advisories. But for now, all GFAL activities nationwide are effectively suspended until further notice,” he added.
GFAL slaps a lower interest rate of 6 percent per annum during a longer six-year repayment period for loans transferred by government employees from private lenders to the GSIS.
Around 230,000 GSIS members already availed of GFAL, with a total of P93.5 billion in loan disbursements to date since it was offered in May last year.
The state pension fund pushed back to May 15 the deadline for its annual pensioners’ information revalidation (Apir) program for pensioners born during the month of March.
“Old-age and survivorship pensioners born this March need not go to GSIS branches to renew their active status for the time being. We advise them to postpone visiting our branches. They can do their Apir at a later date through our Gwaps kiosks located in large government offices, provincial capitols, city and municipal offices, selected SM and Robinsons malls and GSIS branch offices,” according to Macasaet.
“Apir requires all old-age and survivorship pensioners to personally appear before GSIS offices during their birth months as a prerequisite to continue receiving their pensions. The Apir program was instituted by the GSIS as its monitoring mechanism to prevent pension over-payments,” Macasaet explained.
Citing a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory that the elderly were among the most vulnerable to catch COVID-19, Macasaet said: “I would like to assure our pensioners that their safety and well-being is our primordial concern.”
SSS forms skeletal workforce
Separately, Social Security System (SSS) said in a separate statement Monday that it “will form a skeletal workforce in all of its branches in Metro Manila to continuously serve its members—Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.” starting March 16.
“Transactions, however, will be limited to applications for non-medical benefits such as retirement, death, funeral, and unemployment; sickness and maternity notifications; employer reimbursement claims for sickness and maternity; maternity claims for self-employed and voluntary members; pension loan program application; and contribution and loan payments,” the SSS said.
“Medical evaluation centers in [Metro Manila] will only be open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for sickness and disability benefit claims. Unified multi-purpose identification (Umid) card applications and other transactions will temporarily be unavailable,” the SSS added.
“Members are advised to avoid unnecessary trips to SSS branches. For accessing records, viewing of eligibility and documentary requirements for benefit and loan programs, inquiry on the status of benefit claims, and other transactions, members may use the my.SSS portal on the SSS website at www.sss.gov.ph, download the SSS mobile app or use the text-SSS facility at 2600,” according to the SSS.
The SSS said its branches outside Metro Manila will “continue with normal operations.”