Bill expanding SSS powers OK’d
THE House of Representatives on Monday night approved on third and final reading a measure which gives the Social Security System (SSS) the power to determine salary credits schedules and rate of contributions without approval by the President.
In Monday’s session, 227 voted in favor of House Bill (HB) No. 2158 expanding the powers and duties of the Social Security Commission (SSC), which in turn was opposed by the seven- member Makabayan bloc.
The HB 2185 removes the provision which says any increases in benefits should not lead to a contribution hike.
It also deletes the provision requiring the President’s approval on “feasible increases in benefits every four years, including the addition of new ones, under such rules and regulations as the Commission may adopt.”
The bill also authorizes the SSC “to determine and fix from time to time, through rules and regulations, the minimum monthly salary credits of member-employees, the schedule and the rate of contributions of employers and member-employees, the rate of penalty on due but unremitted contributions of employers and member-employees and unpaid amortization of member-employees.”
The SSC is also allowed to “establish a provident fund for the members which will consist of voluntary contributions of employers and/ or employees, self- employed and voluntary members and their earnings for the payment of benefits to such members or their beneficiaries, subject to rules and regulation as it may promulgate” without the approval of the President.
The Makabayan bloc for its part said the bill “will only be used to increase SSS contributions without first instituting reforms in the agency.”
The House of Representatives also approved House Joint Resolution no. 10, seeking to increase the monthly pension for SSS members, with 233 lawmakers voting in the affirmative, none opposing the measure and one abstaining.
Under the said resolution, the P2,000 pension increase would be divided into two tranches — the first tranche of P1,000 starting this month of January and the second tranche in January 2019. —