SSS collectibles from employers down by 40%

SOCIAL Security System’s campaign to run after contribution evaders has resulted in the collection of unremitted contributions amounting to P1.37 billion in 2023 from delinquent employers.

Under the Social Security System’s (SSS) RACE (Run After Contribution Evaders) campaign, delinquent private-sector employers were forced to settle their contribution delinquencies.

In 2022, the Commission on Audit (CoA) called out the SSS for its failure to collect over P92 billion from 1.5 million delinquent employers.

In response, SSS President and CEO Rolando Ledesma Macasaet ordered the intensification of the RACE campaign nationwide, based on a Supreme Court ruling on taking legal action against employers who have been remiss in settling their contribution delinquencies.

“Our RACE campaign must be working,” Macasaet said in a statement as he reported that the amount of unremitted members’ contributions from delinquent employers had plummeted by nearly 40 percent in 2023.

Macasaet said that the SSS successfully brought down by 39 percent to P56 billion in 2023 on the back of aggressively pursuing delinquent employers and continuously updating employer records.

According to CoA, some 466,881 employers did not remit P92.49 billion in premium contributions, penalties and damages.

As a result, the SSS filed cases in court against 2,422 errant employers; the majority of them have opted to settle their delinquencies either through full payment or via installment schemes, resulting in a recordhigh collection of P1.37 billion in 2023 from P1.15 billion in 2022.

Macasaet said that the RACE campaign has proven to be effective in pursuing delinquent employers nationwide.

“It’s an operation being conducted by the state fund to ensure that employers comply with their obligation as stipulated in Republic Act No. 11199 or the ‘Social Security Act of 2018,’” Macasaet said.

“We issued show cause orders or notices of violation to delinquent employers and instructed them to report to SSS within 15 days to settle their unpaid contributions and corresponding penalties or face legal consequences for violating RA 11199,” Macasaet added.

According to the SSS, the RACE operations have been institutionalized into the agency’s mainstream branch operational procedures.

Aside from improved collection from delinquent employers, Macasaet said SSS has also updated its records since it discovered that many of the reported contribution collectibles were from establishments that no longer operated, resulting in overstated statements of accounts being issued by SSS.

After visual inspections, the SSS found out that more business establishments had already ceased operations, he said.