Calbayog gov’t workers’ loans rejected

CALBAYOG CITY—Employees of the city government cannot borrow money from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

They recently found that their GSIS loans had not been approved because their payments for previous loans and membership fees had not been remitted.

Rene Cinco, GSIS Catbalogan branch manager, said the accounts of employees were in default because of the nonpayment of past loans in the last six months.

Cinco said there could only be two reasons for the default—nonremittance of payments by the local government or employees’ refusal to authorize deductions from their salaries.

Cinco had written a demand letter on Nov. 25 addressed to Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino urging him to remit directly to the GSIS the employees’ and employer’s premium contributions from June to October 2013, amounting to P22 million.

A Catbalogan City government employee, Ceniza Tarrayo, said the city government remitted their loan repayments to Land Bank of the Philippines, a rural bank and other lending agencies, only until September, although their salaries had been deducted for loan payments in October.

Tarrayo and another employee, Arturo Pintuan, have launched a signature campaign to force Mayor Aquino and city treasurer Federico Resente to explain the city’s financial status. Tarrayo is assigned to the Calbayog City engineering office while Pintuan works at the city mayor’s office.

Pintuan said it was their right as employees to know where the unremitted money went. “It is our money and they have an obligation to explain to us everything.” Pintuan said.

In a dialogue with Calbayog City employees on Friday, Resente said the money deducted from the employees’ salaries were not stolen but used to pay for the “legitimate obligations or disbursements” of the city.

He admitted that the city had financial problems inherited from the previous administration.

He said the city government had obligations to Landbank, suppliers and contractors reaching around P100 million.

In a meeting with the employees and a GSIS representative on Thursday, the city treasurer assured the GSIS that the Calbayog City government would remit the employees’ GSIS contributions and loan repayments for two months when the city receives its internal revenue allotment for December.

Resente also told the employees the city would remit to Landbank their two months worth of loan payments so that they could apply for loan renewals.