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BY PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter
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MANILA – Sen. Cynthia Villar was expecting the bill seeking a P2,000 across-the-board increase in Social Security System (SSS) pension to be signed into law this year.
The committee on government corporations and public enterprises of both houses of Congress approved the measure.
Villar said the passage on the committee level was “our early Christmas gift” to the nearly two million Filipino pensioners.
If the measure is signed into law, the monthly pension of SSS pensioners will rise to P3,200 from P1,200 for members with at least 10 credited years of service (CYS) and to P4,000 from P2,400 for those with at least 20 CYS.
“We all agree that the cost of living faced by pensioners has enormously grown, and this increase is necessary to provide for the well-being of the country’s retirees,” the senator from Las Piñas said.
At a recent hearing on the pension hike bill, the SSS was urged to enhance its collection efficiency to increase the benefits of its 33 million members.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate, principal author, was elated that the bill got past the standing committee.
“We hope that both houses of Congress can pass this bill before the year ends so that the long-awaited pension increase could finally come true,” Zarate said.
Six months before his term ended, President Benigno Aquino III vetoed the bill.
He said signing it into law would force the SSS to use its Investment Reserve Fund, and the fund would get depleted by 2029./PN
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