State pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is reopening the COVID-19 Emergency Loan program today, September 28, until Dec 27 this year to its members and pensioners.
GSIS moved to reopen the loan window after President Rodrigo Duterte signed Proclamation No. 1021 extending the state of calamity in the country due to the pandemic.
“Gusto naming mabigyan ng ginhawa ang ating active members at old-age at disability pensioners na apektado nitong pandemya at hindi pa nakikinabang sa pribilehiyong ito. To date, there are still 700,000 of our 1.3 million qualified members and pensioners who have yet to file their emergency loan application. Hopefully, the three-month application period will give them ample time to prepare the requirements and submit them to us,” GSIS President and General Manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet said.
“We are mobilizing our resources to help members and pensioners who need financial assistance. Of the Php43.01 billion that we have set aside for this loan facility, we have already released Php18 billion to nearly 600,000 of them,” he added.
Under the COVID-19 Emergency Loan program, qualified borrowers with existing emergency loan may borrow up to Php40,000 to pay off their previous emergency loan balance and still receive a maximum net amount of Php20,000. Those without existing emergency loan may apply for Php20,000. However, those who have already availed of the COVID-19 emergency loan are no longer qualified to apply.
Qualified to apply are members who are in active service and not on leave of absence without pay; have no pending administrative or criminal case; and have a net take-home pay of not lower than Php5,000 after all required monthly obligations have been deducted. Those that have due and demandable (have arrears of over six months) loan accounts are now allowed to renew their previous emergency loan from a different calamity (excluding under the COVID-19 Emergency Loan Program). Members with only three months of paid premiums prior to application date instead of six months may already apply.
All emergency loan applications will still be subject to the approval of the respective agency authorized officers of the members’ employer.
Meanwhile, old-age and disability pensioners are qualified to apply if their resulting net monthly take-home pension after loan availment is at least 25% of their basic monthly pension.
The COVID-19 Emergency Loan application form may be downloaded from https://www.gsis.gov.ph/downloadable-forms.
To ensure public health and safety, members and pensioners must file their applications through contactless methods.
They may submit their emergency loan application through the pension fund’s web-based facility, the Electronic GSIS Member Online (eGSISMO). To register in eGSISMO, members should initially sign up for their eGSISMO account by accessing http://egsismo.gsis.gov.ph/ and keying in their GSIS business partner (BP) number. BP numbers may be obtained from their office’s agency authorized officer or electronic remittance file handler; any GSIS office; or GSIS Contact Center (8-847-4747).
Emergency Loan application may also be filed by emailing the requirements to the designated email addresses of branch offices covering the agencies of active members and place of residence of pensioners in https://www.gsis.gov.ph/advisory-on-the-new-email-addresses-of-gsis-offices/.
Borrowers, except for pensioners, may also opt to file their loan application through the GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (GWAPS) kiosks located in all GSIS branches, Department of Education offices, provincial capitols, city halls, Robinsons Malls and selected SM Supermalls.
Once the loan is approved, the proceeds will be directly credited to the borrower’s Unified Multi-Purpose ID (UMID) card or temporary eCard account.
For further inquiries on emergency loan program, interested parties may visit the GSIS website, http://www.gsis.gov.ph; GSIS Facebook account, @gsis.ph; email gsiscares@gsis.gov.ph; or call the GSIS Contact Center at 8847-4747 (if in Metro Manila), 1-800-8-847-4747 (for Globe and TM subscribers), and 1-800-10-847-4747 (for Smart, Sun, and Talk ‘N Text subscribers).
