San Juan, GSIS ink loan refinancing deal

MANILA, Philippines — The city government of San Juan and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) yesterday inked a memorandum of agreement on a loan refinancing program for city hall employees.

San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora and GSIS chairman Rolando Macasaet signed the agreement, which would ensure that city government employees can avail of the state pension fund’s financial assistance loan which would help them settler their outstanding loan obligations with other lending institutions.

Zamora said local government workers, even public school teachers, in San Juan who are GSIS members can avail of the state pension fund’s Financial Assistance Loan II program.

“Alam naman natin na madalas napipilitan sila humiram ng pera sa mga taong nagpapautang na may napakalaking interes (We know they are often forced to borrow money from people who charge high interest rates),” he told reporters on the sidelines on the sidelines of the agreement’s ceremonial signing at city hall.

Under the agreement, qualified employees can avail as much as P500,000 to settle their respective outstanding loans.

The  interest rate is only at six percent per annum, which Zamora said is relatively lower than than that charged by private lending companies.

The loan is computed in advance and will be payable in monthly installments for six years.

To ensure faster processing of their loans, a satellite office manned by GSIS staffers was put in place at the city hall. It is open on Wednesdays and Fridays.