GSIS to sue IBM for bug that delayed transactions
05/25/2009 | 07:46 PM
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines’ state-run pension fund for public employees may sue the local unit of IBM Corp., which claims to be the world’s largest and most profitable information technology company.
A series of legal actions are currently being prepared by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for the company’s alleged failure to correct defects in its computer software, the pension fund said.
“The software could not absorb infinite transactions contrary to the claims of IBM," GSIS legal counsel Estrella Elamparo said during a briefing.
The GSIS blamed a recurring computer glitch in a software system bought from IBM Corp. three years ago.
Two demand letters dated May 14 and 21 have already been sent to IBM’s Armonk, New York headquarters, Elamparo said. She added that these documents asked IBM to rectify supposed errors within a given period but these have already lapsed.
The pension fund will “file cases in the coming days," Elamparo said. “Through this [briefing], I hope IBM would be compelled to provide solutions."
These supposed defects, which reportedly occur at least twice daily, have delayed the processing of transactions of 20,000 GSIS members for two months, Connie Manansala, GSIS executive vice president for operations, said during the same briefing.
Of the pending claims applications, a fourth represented retirement benefits, Manansala added.
The delay reportedly giving rise to reports that the pension fund has gone broke.
However, the pension fund remains capable of processing applications although in a “very slow manner," she said.
“There is delay in processing. But we still accept applications over the counter," she said.
Before the glitch, the GSIS was able to process 40,000 transactions a day, dispense loan applications in over a minute, and takes just a day to process members’ claims and benefits.
Next: IBM rejects claims made by GSIS
A series of legal actions are currently being prepared by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for the company’s alleged failure to correct defects in its computer software, the pension fund said.
“The software could not absorb infinite transactions contrary to the claims of IBM," GSIS legal counsel Estrella Elamparo said during a briefing.
The GSIS blamed a recurring computer glitch in a software system bought from IBM Corp. three years ago.
Two demand letters dated May 14 and 21 have already been sent to IBM’s Armonk, New York headquarters, Elamparo said. She added that these documents asked IBM to rectify supposed errors within a given period but these have already lapsed.
The pension fund will “file cases in the coming days," Elamparo said. “Through this [briefing], I hope IBM would be compelled to provide solutions."
These supposed defects, which reportedly occur at least twice daily, have delayed the processing of transactions of 20,000 GSIS members for two months, Connie Manansala, GSIS executive vice president for operations, said during the same briefing.
Of the pending claims applications, a fourth represented retirement benefits, Manansala added.
The delay reportedly giving rise to reports that the pension fund has gone broke.
However, the pension fund remains capable of processing applications although in a “very slow manner," she said.
“There is delay in processing. But we still accept applications over the counter," she said.
Before the glitch, the GSIS was able to process 40,000 transactions a day, dispense loan applications in over a minute, and takes just a day to process members’ claims and benefits.
Next: IBM rejects claims made by GSIS
