GSIS loans of ARMM teachers suspended

COTABATO CITY – The regional branch here of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has suspended new loan applications of teachers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) due to huge arrearages of the region’s previous administrations.

Lawyer Macacuna Macadato, GSIS assistant area manager for Central Mindanao, said they continue to release the loans of the rank-and-file of the ARMM’s Department of Education, but only those filed before the processing of new applications was suspended a few days ago.

Macadato said the present ARMM administration has been trying its best to address the problems caused by the non-remittance of GSIS premiums and other payments that had been deducted from the teachers’ salaries.

“Our records are open. Only new loan applications are affected. Previous loans have been facilitated,” Macadatu said.

The regional solicitor-general, Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, said it is the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) which has been deducting GSIS premiums from the teachers’ salaries since the time of Gov. Parouk Hussin.

Hussin’s administration – 2001 to 2005 – forged a memorandum of agreement with the DBM for the direct remittance of the teachers’ GSIS premiums.