THE House of Representatives favors the “staggered” payment of the proposed Social Security System P2,000 pension hike so it would not result in bankruptcy
House Majority Floor leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said “there will be a P1,000 increase [for SSS pensioners] and then three years after or in 2019, another P1,000.”
Fariñas said the mode of payment for the proposed P2,000 pension hike, welcomed by lawmakers, was dicussed during a majority caucus held by House leaders Wednesday night.
“The [idea raised during the] caucus was okay with it. If they are okay with it, then we will pass it on the floor,” Fariñas said.
Fariñas said he raised the idea during the caucus even as it was also contained in the committee report prepared by the House Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization on the measure that was passed last September.
“The idea came from the Committee. Perhaps the SSS cannot afford the increase in one go. That was the decision, that was the Committee report,” Fariñas stressed.
Fariñas said the House will pass the measure before Congress goes on a Christmas break beginning December 17.
Once enacted, the pension hike stands to benefit some two million members of the social insurance program.
Former president Benigno Aquino III vetoed House Bill 5842, or the proposed Social Security Act, last January. The measure seeks to grant the P2,000 increase.
Aquino moved to veto the measure in the belief this will result in the bankruptcy of the state-run pesion agency.