I envy Vice Mayor Crisostomo B. Vilar of Pagsanjan, Laguna. After only two weeks of waiting, his application for pension was approved (Inquirer, 1/8/13).
My case though is not about my pension. It is about the overdeduction of the monthly amortization for a housing loan I obtained in September 2001. I was about to retire then when my application for the housing loan was approved. My wife, being a public school teacher, had to take over in paying the monthly dues. Immediately after our last payment in August 2011, my wife and I went to the GSIS central office to request that the monthly deduction be stopped. Our request was denied because, accordingly, the records at that time were under reconstruction. We were promised that we will receive the refund of the overdeduction and the monthly deduction itself will be stopped when all records shall have been reconciled. I wonder when the reconciliation will finally be completed. Can the Government Service Insurance System please prioritize septuagenarians like me?
Despite the promise, we did not relent. We have reached that point when my family’s combined income can no longer contain the heavy burden of getting sick. Hospital visits, doctors’ fees and medicines amount to more than a hundred percent of our income. I am sure the money being deducted from the salary of my wife can more than alleviate our plight. I have been bombarding the GSIS main office with letters and e-mails, but to no avail. All that I got were two e-mail replies (the last was in November 2012) saying the GSIS has taken note of our followups.
May I be given the attention that I deserve through this letter? My wife is retiring in a couple of months and I will be very thankful if Vilar’s good fate will also shine on me and on my wife. I hope his being a vice mayor is just a coincidence.
—ALFREDO R. DELA CRUZ,
7-D Zorra St., Barangay Paltok,
San Francisco del Monte, QC