SPEAKER Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the Social Security System may choose to implement a P1,000 pension hike as an alternative to the P2,000 that was vetoed by President Benigno Aquino III.
Belmonte said the P1,000 is doable and lawmakers have been exerting efforts to grant a “reasonable” pension hike for the country’s millions of SSS retirees.
“I think the P1,000 will be doable,” Belmonte said, defending the move of the House to abruptly end its session Wednesday night in order to block the moves of SSS pension hike proponents to force a vote to override Aquino’s veto of the 2,000 pension hike bill.
“The override [of the President’s veto] cannot be done because number one, [the pension raise] cannot be afforded [by the government], and second, you cannot override [something with only one House member who is for it],” Belmonte said.
Belmonte said Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares obviously did not have the required two-thirds vote of the entire chamber to overturn the President’s veto since there were not enough congressmen present at the plenary session Wednesday.
At least 192 of the 287 House members in the present 16th Congress would be the needed vote to reverse the President’s veto of the measure.
The House adjourned its session at 7: 40 p.m. Wednesday despite Colmenares’ appeal for the proceedings to continue in order for his resolution seeking to reverse the President’s veto of the SSS pension hike bill could be put to a vote.
Belmonte termed as “bad faith” the move of Colmenares to override the President’s veto, saying Colmenares, a senatorial candidate, was just “really just showing off or launching [his] political career.”
For his part, Colmenares said he will not give up on his proposal and will still fight for it when Congress resumes session in May.
“Congress will reconvene on May 23 to June 10, 2016, and I will again move for the override of the veto. Copies of the resolution supporting the override were sent to all the members of Congress but we were not able to finish gathering their signatures. We will keep on gathering signatures in preparation for the May 23 motion,” Colmenares said.