The Union Bank of the Philippines, through its Government Service Insurance System eCards Customer Service department yesterday, said the bank is now addressing the problems encountered by GSIS members in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental in the withdrawal of their dividends.

In an emailed response to the query of the DAILY STAR, Bon Masibag Jr., associate customer service officer, said that "at the moment, we are experiencing minor network slowdown due to large volume of transactions we have been receiving lately in line with the crediting of dividends."

"Be assured however that the bank is already working round the clock to keep interruptions into minimum," he also said, adding that they apologize for the inconvenience.

DAILY STAR had earlier sought for a statement from the bank after receiving complaints from GSIS members on the difficulties they encountered in withdrawing their dividends from Union Bank's lone automated teller machine in Bacolod City.

Government employees, including teachers, claimed they queued for several days just to have access to the Union Teller because they cannot withdraw cash using their GSIS eCards from ATMs of other banks.

Since the GSIS announced the release of its members' dividends in the middle of January, hundreds have been lining up outside the ATM booth of Union Bank in Rosario-Araneta streets.

The long lines only subsided yesterday.

Masibag said GSIS members can also withdraw their dividends through over-the-counter transactions at any Union Bank branch.

GSIS had said in a press release that as of Jan. 14, it had completed the release of P1 billion in regular dividends for 2004 to all its qualified members through the eCard.

It asked its members to transact with Megalink member banks as GSIS is experiencing connection problems with other ATM networks.*NLG

back to top