THE House committee on government enterprises and privatization on Wednesday passed a consolidated measure granting a P2,000 Social Security System pension hike for its pensioners.
The panel, chaired by Rep. Jesus Nonato Sacdalan of North Cotabato, passed the revived measure which had failed to get enacted into law after it was vetoed by then President Benigno Aquino III.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate, one of the bill’s principal authors, said he is hopeful the Senate would be able to give the same level of enthusiasm in passing the measure en route to its becoming a law.
The approved measure was a consolidated version of 15 bills filed at the House of Representatives in the 17th Congress.
“We hope the Senate version would also be expedited so that President Duterte can sign this long awaited measure before the year ends,” Zarate said.
Zarate said the country’s senior citizens “have long been waiting for their pension to increase; if not for the unwarranted veto of former President Aquino they could have already been enjoying higher pensions now.”
Reps. Raneo Abu of Batangas and Gus Tambunting of Parañaque, co-authors to the proposed P2,000 SSS pensiom hike, welcomed the bill’s passage.
“I support the passage of the P2k SSS pension hike for senior citizens. It is feasible, necessary and urgent,” Abu, a deputy speaker, said.
Abu said the current pension benefit which was last revised in 1997 is not adjusted enough to meet the current cost of living standards.
“This is a very timely and worthy proposal that would show Congress’ sincere desire to serve people’s interests,” he said.
Abu said the enactment of the measure under the Duterte administration would be “a major step towards sharing inclusive growth [with] the elderly.”
“I hope the Senate will also expedite the passage of the measure aimed at easing the plight of our SSS pensioners,” he said.
But SSS Vice President Gregory Ongkeko said the proposal for an increased pension would be counter-productive.
In fact, he said a P500 increase in pension could result in a 1.5 percent increase in contribution every year.
“If the increase will be approved [without increase in premium], then we will have to follow the law. If we ran out of actuarial life by 2015, we can call in a government guarantee,” Ongkeko said.
He said the SSS would be supportive of any additional benefits for its pensioners “as long as there is a funding resource that is sustainable.”
Aquino vetoed the approved bill granting P2,000 pension hike for fear that this would bankrupt the state pension fund.
The measure would have increased the monthly pension by P2,000 across-the-board to P3,200 from P1,200 for pensioners with 10 credited years of service; while P4,000 from P2,400 for those with 20 years.
But Zarate refuted Ongkeko’s “doomsday scenario.”
“[That is] not true because our laws provide that the Congress can allocate subsidy to the SSS in the event that it runs out of fund. Besides, the government has been subsidizing big corporations. Why not subsidize our SSS pensioners for a change?” Zarate said.
“No matter what happens, the government will be there for the SSS,” he added.
Zarate said SSS has enough money to cover the increase once the bill is passed into law.
“The SSS has funds. Their collection is just at 40 percent, which is collecting just 40 centavos per P1. That is the problem. They said their collection efficiency reached 87 percent, but that is only for the year 2015. How about the previous years? Until now, they can’t say how much of the P325 billion have they collected, if any,” Zarate said.
He added, “By asking for additional SSS contribution, the SSS wants to drive a wedge between the SSS pensioners and the SSS members.
“The SSS members are ordinary employees who are seldom granted with salary increase. If you collect additional premium from them, they would think, why do we have to subsidize the pensioners?”