IN line with the call of President ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. for government agencies to shift to digitalization for faster, better and more convenient service to stakeholders, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will automate its key processes and systems via digital platforms.

The move aims to provide the ultimate customer experience for the state pension fund’s over 2.5 million members and pensioners, according to GSIS President and General Manager Wick Veloso.

Customer servicing of the agency will be technology-driven so that GSIS members and pensioners can access GSIS at their fingertips anytime, anywhere.

The government’s first ever GSIS Touch mobile application will soon include facial recognition when members register or log in.

Veloso said they are working closely with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to expand the functionalities of our GSIS Touch mobile app.

Aside from the facial recognition feature, the mobile app will cover more payment portals.

Through the GSIS Touch, members may access their records and apply for a loan and monitor their loan status.

They may likewise apply for life and retirement claims while pensioners may schedule their annual renewal of active status.

Starting January next year, GSIS frontline servicing in all offices nationwide will transition to a more streamlined set-up, with GSIS Touch Help Desks placed in all offices across the country.

Veloso visited its branch offices in Sorsogon, Legazpi and Naga to also touch base with its employees and check on their status and work environment.

The visit was part of GSIS chief’s ‘listening tours’ to hear and help address its employees’ concerns so they can be happier and be more productive at work.

Earlier, Marcos emphasized the need to hasten the country’s digital transformation to enable his administration to provide “fast, transparent, and efficient” services to the public.

During the National Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Summit 2022, Marcos said the government must take “full advantage” of the new technologies and techniques to provide the Filipino people the “best” services they deserve.

“And if we are to succeed in digitalizing our bureaucracy, our government, and to make the way that we do business, the way that we work, the way that we even communicate with one another, we (have) to make it as efficient, as streamlined, and as affordable as possible so that we can provide that extremely important service,” he said in a speech delivered at the Manila Hotel.

Marcos reiterated his plan to make the government “more adaptive to fast-changing developments,” as he lamented that the Philippines has ranked 89th out of 193 countries in the United Nations E-Government Survey.

The Philippines’ current standing is not “encouraging”, he said, adding that this shows that the country is experiencing a “regression”.

“We are already playing catch up in terms of digitalization to the rest of the world. So it is not as if we have a choice here. We don’t have a choice that maybe we’ll do it, maybe we’ll not,” he said.

“It is simply not the way that the modern world works. We have to digitalize if we are going to keep up all our plans for the transformation of the economy and our continuing redefinition of the Philippines’ place in the community of nations.”

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