Casiguran town hosts leadership training for student leaders

SORSOGON CITY, Jan. 30 (PIA) -- The Bicol Region believes in training them young to become upright leaders. A total of 1,750 participants comprising of student leaders across the Bicol Region attended the 4th Bicol Regional Leadership Training for Government Officers on January 27-29 held at the Casiguran Technical Vocational High School and Casiguran Central School.

The three-day training, hosted by the local government of Casiguran, aimed to enhance the participants' knowledge, skills, and attitudes as student leaders from their respective schools and local community by inculcating in them the values of cooperation, teamwork, service, responsibility, and accountability.

According to Orfelina O. Tuy, Department of Education officer-in-charge, RO 5, the training will also instill in them values which will enable them to actively engage in useful programs and projects in their school and communities.

The participants are the duly elected officers of the Supreme Student Government/ School Pupil Government accompanied by their teacher-advisers in Social Studies, Elementary School Pupil Coordinators, and department heads or school principals.

The young leaders had a chance to listen to resource speakers like Senator Francis Joseph "Chiz" G. Escudero who talked on Leadership Challenges Towards a Better Philippines; Franco Avelino A. Hilotin, on the mandated programs, projects, and activities; and Jose Doncillo, division coordinator of the Division of Sorsogon, who shared his views on effective leadership.

Also on hand were Rev. Fr. Treb Futol, parish priest of Juban who shared his views on Leadership or Servanthood and Dr. Lorna D. Dino of DepEd Region IV-A, who talked on Upgrading Basic Education: K+12 Initiatives.(PIA V)

Stakeholders meet with GSIS Prexy

NAGA CITY, Jan. 30 (PIA) -- A more consultative, more transparent and more service-focused assistance awaits the stakeholders of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) under its new board and management spearheaded by GSIS president and general manager Robert G. Vergara.

In a well-attended stakeholder’s forum held Friday (Jan. 27) at the Avenue Convention Center, Vergara reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to bring back the trust of its members by instituting various reforms in the implementation of its programs and bring the GSIS’s services closer to their partners.

Vergara enumerated some of the agency’s initiatives to provide responsive service to its beneficiaries. It includes its renewed partnership with the Landbank of the Philippines while giving the pensioners a chance to select the best convenient bank for them to handle their GSIS transactions.

They have also deployed additional GWAPS kiosks to make it easier for members to check their loan standing and other inquiries which are made available on line for their convenience. Vergara said that an additional 500 kiosks have been deployed in various parts of the country in its aggressive campaign to make their service accessible to their members.

GSIS chairman of the Board of Trustees Daniel “Bitay” L. Lacson Jr., who was also present during the forum, added that their service upgrade is aligned with the principle of deploying kiosks in every municipality, in every town and in at least one in every congressional area. Lacson said that this program has put on a positive result with 97 percent of their clients now transacting using the GWAPS kiosks all over the country.

Vergara said that they are also implementing new emergency loan program which will reduce interest rate of loans from eight to six percent. GSIS has also waved its one percent service fee and has extended its grace period for first amortization payment to three months from loan drawdown.

Having seen the sacrifices of the pensioners, Vergara said that they have also cancelled the Annual Renewal of Active Status (ARAS) for pensioners, revised survivor’s policy , adoption of the Choice of Loans Amortization Schedule for Pensioners (CLASP) and departing from the old Claims and Loans Interdependency Policy (CLIP) , GSIS is now giving the pensioners the chance to manage their own financial affairs, and rationalized its home lending program. They also conduct pre-retirement counseling which is being held every month at GSIS central office and in its field offices.

Currently, GSIS is also working double time to make its posting more efficient, including the reconciliation of accounts which became a long-standing concern of the said agency during the past years.

There are still more in store for the GSIS stakeholders, Vergara said.

“At the new GSIS, it is all about serving our members and pensioners, in the most responsive manner.” (MAL/LSM-PIA-Camarines Sur)