Duterte, lawmakers lauded for Social Security Act

After 22 years, the state-run Social Security System (SSS) now has a new charter as President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11199 otherwise known as the Social Security Act of 2018.

“This is a huge success for the pension fund. This new law will breathe in new life to SSS so that it can continue to serve its stakeholders, members, and pensioners. And we sincerely express our gratitude to President Duterte for acknowledging the long overdue need for this amendment and signing this into law,” SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel F. Dooc said.

“We would also like to take this chance to thank our dear lawmakers, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for their leadership in both chambers; our SSSChampion in the Senate, our principal author and sponsor, Sen. Richard Gordon; and our Senate and House contingents – Senators Ralph Recto, Franklin Drilon, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Representatives Prospero Pichay and Mark Go,” Dooc added.

The new law, RA 11199, repealed RA 1161 as amended by RA 8282, mainly aims to strengthen the pension fund through its salient features such as the rationalization of the powers of the Social Security Commission, the policymaking body of the SSS, allowing it to expand the investing capacity of the pension fund to generate better income for the benefit of its members and pensioners.

The law is also expected to generate additional funding for the pension fund as it imposes the implementation of the gradual increase of monthly contributions from the current 11 percent to an additional 1

The DTI, as the chairman of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), intends to ensure that the benefits or proceeds from the commercial use of IPR redound to the legal holder of the IPR, and to avoid undue copying and illegal use of IPO-registered trade names.

The NCIPR, a committee made up of 12 government agencies including the Intellectual Property Office, Bureau of Customs, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Food and Drug, Optical Media Board and other agencies, reported that for 2018 a total of P23.6 billion worth of counterfeit or pirated goods have been confiscated by the committee, a majority of which are fake cigarettes, alcohol products, pharmaceutical and personal care products.— Warren Serrano/ DTI-3