THE Philippines is cruel.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of work.
Some employers withhold “compulsory” SSS (Social Security System) contributions at the expense of hapless employees. The employer-employee relationship is, for many, hopelessly one-sided in favor of the employer.
Can this change?
Possibly.
SSS has announced that it will chase an initial 7,000 firms that have evaded contribution payments – 7,000!
And this is just the beginning.
I hope the chase is effective. It will need to be vigorous. In the past, the SSS has been soft on recalcitrant employers which accounts for the massive evasion of contributions. Republic Act 8282, the Social Security Act of 1997, gives the SSS the power to issue a Warrant of Distraint, Levy, and Garnishment (WDLG). This means that the SSS can seize property or other items as payment for unpaid contributions. This has not been done before and it will be interesting to see whether the SSS has the tenacity to implement this important development. Will employers be able to indulge in legal sophistry so as to continue to delay or even avoid payments? We shall see.
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Late in President Aquino’s term, the Senate approved an across-the-board increase in pensions. There was a single naysayer, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile. As sometimes happens, I find myself in agreement with the lone contrarian.
Two other examples: Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was the only one to vote against Republic Act 10533 aka K-12. Now that the first batch is just completing Grade 12 we find, as predicted, that the two years of “senior” high school does not make any meaningful academic progress but merely to consume much time and therefore much public and private sector resources.
I hope our legislators will revisit our education policy. Over the past decade we have progressed from grossly underspending our investment in education to possibly overspending. Our education budget for 2018 is P519 billion, approximately quadrupling the 2008 budget.
The other lone contrarian that I would like to salute is Associate Justice Leonen who was the only one to give support to beleaguered Chief Justice (on leave) Sereno.
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Back to SSS.
For any equitable pension scheme, the pension paid to an individual should be proportional to the contributions in real terms that he makes. An across-the-board increase favors those who made less contributions at the expense of those who have paid more. I favor an across-the-board increase if it is to be paid from government funds. But this is not the case. It will be paid from members’ contributions. So those who have paid more will receive proportionately less. This negates the principle of equitability on which all sound pension schemes are based./PN
