JOINT POSITION PAPER

---------------------------------------------------------
(On the struggle of homeowners at Teresa Homes, Barangay Tibag, Tarlac City,
Philippines, against mass eviction by the Government Service Insurance System)
---------------------------------------------------------

In the name of the Teresa Homes Homeowners Association, Inc. (Phase I) and
the Teresa Homes Phase II Homeowners Association, Inc., Tibag, Tarlac City, we
hereby submit this Joint Position Paper to the Government Service Insurance System
in behalf of the original buyers, rights buyers and those presently living therein
with tacit consent of the GSIS, many of whom are members of the System.

We are at present fighting tooth and nail to protect our rights as homeowners
against the unjustified move of the GSIS to evict us from our homes.

Sometime in December last year, the GSIS served us individual notices dated
December 4, 2008 asking us to vacate our homes and threatening us with legal
action for eviction and damages if we fail or refuse to comply within thirty (30)
days from receipt.

In response, we staged daily protest actions at the main road of the subdivision
starting January 3 this year to dramatize our strong opposition to this oppressive
move. The mass actions are still ongoing up to this day.

Through this position paper, we formally express our collective indignation over
the inhumane policies and schemes of the GSIS which victimize the lowly government
employees and impoverished masses like us. It is deplorable that the System which
is primarily established to promote the welfare and wellbeing of government
employees and whose funding are drawn from the contributions of the latter as well
as from the people’s taxes is itself exploiting the very people that it is sworn
to serve. Evidently, the GSIS under the present administration of President and
General Manager Winston Garcia has become a conscienceless profit-oriented
business enterprise instead of a service-oriented insurance system. To say the
least, it betrays the underlying reason for its existence.

In our case, we are aggravated by its onerous policy on housing, including housing
loans, which appears to be so designed to deprive and not to provide us home
buyers the opportunity to own a safe, comfortable and low cost homes for our
family.

We cannot in conscience accept the questioned arbitrary and unilateral

cancellation of our individual Deed of Conditional Sale (DCS) as well as the
issuance of notices to vacate. In the first place, these acts contravene our
earlier agreement with the GSIS during our dialogue last August 21, 2008 to the
effect that the latter will thoroughly review our housing loan records in light of
the unjustified imposition of excessive interests and penalties by the System.

In the second place, these selfsame acts grossly violate our right to due process
of law guaranteed under the Constitution as well as the spirit and intent of the
Realty Installment Buyer Protection Act (R.A. 6552), otherwise known as the Maceda
Law, and the GSIS Act of 1997 (R.A. 8291). Pertinently, under Section 3 of the
Maceda Law, it is mandated, among others, that actual cancellation of the contract
to sell must be done by a notarial act and upon full payment by the seller of the
buyer’s cash surrender value. In our case, however, the GSIS failed to comply with
these legal requisites. Worse, instead of paying us the mandated cash surrender
value, the GSIS continues to collect from us monthly payments of arrearages but
treats such payments as mere rent of the subject property.
On the other hand, Section 41 (w) of the GSIS law provides that in case of default
on the part of the obligor in the payment of his indebtedness or liabilities to
the GSIS (in our case, our amortization arrearages), the GSIS Board shall demand
payment or settlement of said obligation within thirty (30) days from the date the
obligation becomes due, and “in the event of failure or refusal of the obligor or
debtor to comply with the demand, the Board shall initiate or institute the
necessary or proper actions or suits xxx before the courts, tribunals,
commissions, boards, or bodies of proper jurisdiction within thirty (30) days
reckoned from the expiry date of the period fixed in the demand within which to
pay or settle the account.”

It is crystal clear then from the foregoing provisions that unless and until the
aforementioned requisite actions are done, the GSIS cannot validly cancel our
individual DCS. Hence, it cannot force us to vacate our homes.

We decry the exceedingly usurious interests imposed on us by the GSIS which mainly
accounted for the unwarranted ballooning of our loans to astronomical amounts. It
is shocking as it is utterly ridiculous that a low cost housing unit which
originally cost some Three Hundred Fifty Thousand Pesos (P350,000.00) has now
swelled to close to Two Million Pesos (P2M) and which continues to increase by
reason of such anomalous exaction. This is a grave insult to our intelligence.
What we purchased from the GSIS are mere low cost housing units, not mansions!

To add insult to injury, the GSIS tries to inveigle us to repurchase the subject
property at its current selling price, which is now more than threefold of the
original selling price. This, even as it continues to charge and collect from us
the aforementioned unwarranted obligations. This is aggravated by the fact that in
the appraisal of the property, the GSIS included in the computation the value
added of the improvements introduced by the homeowners themselves, resulting in
the unjustifiable increase in the amount of monthly payments/amortization which
the GSIS compels us to pay.

It is bad enough that despite the worsening economic crisis, the government has
remained callous and indifferent to the crying need of lowly private and public
sector workers like us for salary increases commensurate to the rising cost of
living. But it is far worse that instead of alleviating our plight, the GSIS is
taking advantage of our deplorable situation by such oppressive and exploitative
schemes. Indeed, it is appalling that while the Arroyo administration and the GSIS
crow about their “Bahay Ko Program” as purportedly benefiting the poor, thousands
upon thousands of lowly homeowners like us are being unceremoniously evicted from
their homes after having been bled dry by the GSIS.

What is more, the GSIS arbitrarily withholds the payment of the retirement lumpsum
as well as the monthly pension of us who retired from government service and
appropriates these as payment for our arrearages and loan balances. The same thing
is done to the survivorship benefits owing to the beneficiaries of those who have
died while in service. We believe the GSIS is established primarily to provide for
these exigencies. But as things stand now, even in times of such acute needs, the
GSIS still remains heartless and unsympathetic to our plight. This is exceedingly
outrageous and we decry this confiscatory policy. GSIS is fundamentally a social
insurance/pension fund. Not a usurious lending agency!

From the very start, we have already suffered injustice in the hands of the GSIS.
It awarded to us miserably substandard housing units (poor quality construction
materials used and defective designs and construction work) which the GSIS has
brazenly sold to us at exaggerated selling price. Not contented with this, it
continuously wallops us with outrageous interests.
It is well to recall that we have raised this matter before the GSIS officials
during our dialogue with the GSIS last August 21, 2008. To note, this served as
additional basis for our mutual agreement to have our housing loan accounts
thoroughly reviewed. To our great disappointment, however, the GSIS failed to live
up to its words.

In the same dialogue, we also mutually agreed that GSIS will act on our complaint
against irregularities and anomalous practices perpetrated by some subdivision
sales agents who are in cahoots with certain officials and employees of the GSIS
in the processing of fraudulent housing loans and other related transactions. But
for all its efforts, the same appear to be just a going through the motion. We
cannot rest content with this tokenism because, aside from simply meting light
disciplinary actions on its erring officials and employees, the GSIS failed to run
after the unscrupulous sales agents who until now run scot free and continue to
victimize unwary home buyers.

In this position paper, we concerned homeowners at Phase II also manifest our

desire to buy the housing units we are presently occupying. We are aware that
these units have already been surrendered or abandoned by their original awardees
and are offered for sale by the GSIS. Hence, we believe there are no more
impediments to selling these to us.

It is worthwhile to mention that although our occupancy of these vacant/abandoned

units is not formally recognized by the GSIS, the same is in good faith as it was
permitted and facilitated by the Subdivision and its agents and acquiesced to by
the GSIS. Modesty aside, our said occupancy works to the advantage of the GSIS
because we have since taken care of the property like a good father of the family.
We take charge of its daily upkeep and maintenance at our own expense and
prevented it from deteriorating for all the time that it waits for a buyer.

We, therefore, request the GSIS to recognize and honor our occupancy therein as we
manifest our intention to comply with the acceptable procedures and the reasonable
terms and conditions thereabout.

WHEREFORE, in light of all the foregoing, we call on the GSIS to grant our demands
as follow:

1. To scrap the onerous housing loan policy along with the cross-default and
other oppressive GSIS policies imposed on us government employees and other
toiling masses;

2. To annul and render without force and effect whatsoever the questioned
cancellation of our individual Deed of Conditional Sale and recall the notice to
vacate issued in connection therewith;

3. To write-off the loans of those of us who have already paid the equivalent
amount of the purchase price and reasonable interests and accordingly award to
them the corresponding title to the property.

4. To recognize the occupancy of other buyers of rights and those living

without official sanction of the GSIS and consider them as legitimate buyers.

5. To revert the current price of the property to the original selling price.

6. To prosecute and hold liable the subdivision developer and its sales agents
as well as remaining GSIS officials and employees who persist in defrauding home
buyers at Teresa Homes and other subdivisions.
7. To ensure transparency in all transactions and official processes affecting
our interest and the public;

8. To grant other just and equitable reliefs and remedies as the parties may
mutually and voluntarily enter into through continuing dialogues and conferences.

Lastly but most significantly, in the face of the current global economic
and financial crisis, we strongly urge the government to bail us out from this
morass by condoning our so-called unsettled obligations/indebtedness with the
GSIS. In line with this, we are sending copies of this Position Paper to the
Office of the President and other appropriate government offices, branches and
instrumentalities for their immediate action.

We hunger for justice and we hope the government will favorably and
expeditiously act on our demands.

Tarlac City, February 11, 2009.

TERESA HOMES HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. (Phase I)

TERESA HOMES PHASE II HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

Name, Position and Signature Name, Position and Signature

Position Paper, Teresa Homes Homeowners Associations, cont.

TERESA HOMES HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. (PHASE I)

TERESA HOMES PHASE II HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

Name, Position & Signature Name, Position & Signature