Veteran banker Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso took his oath on Wednesday, Sept. 7, as the new president and general manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Vice President Sara Duterte administered Veloso’s oath at the Department of Education (DepEd) central office in Pasig City.
Duterte, who serves as Education chief in a concurrent capacity, was designated officer-in-charge while Marcos went on his first state visits to Indonesia and Singapore this week.
“Pinag-usapan namin ang posibleng kooperasyon ng GSIS at Department of Education para maresolba ang mga isyu katulad ng loans ng mga guro (We discussed the possible cooperation between GSIS and the Department of Education to resolve various issues like the loans of teachers),” she said in a Facebook post.
The Vice President’s post was accompanied by photos of her meeting with Veloso.
Duterte added they also discussed other concerns of teachers such as the moratorium on their loans, additional insurance covering their accidents, and reconciliation of premium and loan amortization remittances.
READ: GSIS trustees elect Veloso as PGM
She also mentioned her discussions with Veloso about restructuring the loans of DepEd personnel affected by the recent earthquake in Northern Luzon as well as the service records of all DepEd employees.
“Kabilang din sa natalakay ang (Also included in the discussion was the) insurance ng mga (for) school buildings,” the lady official wrote.
Veloso replaced Rolando Macasaet as president and general manager of GSIS, the country's pension fund service for government employees.
Under the law (Section 18 of the GOCC Governance Act of 2011 or Republic Act 10149), “the CEO (chief executive officer) or the highest-ranking officer provided in the charters of the government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs), shall be elected annually by the members of the board among its ranks.”
Veloso was the president and CEO of the Philippine National Bank (PNB) prior to his appointment to GSIS. During his watch, PNB was recognized by the Asian Banker as the "Best Managed Bank" for demonstrating excellence in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
In the last year’s profile of the bank, Veloso was portrayed as an aggressive treasury trader from the 1990s and 2000s.