ILOILO City – The Social Security System (SSS) has secured from the courts warrants of arrest against 40 employers in this city and Iloilo province for not remitting the premiums of their employees. Yesterday morning a team was supposed to serve arrest warrants to two employers but failed to find them.
According to Atty. Renato Cuisia, vice president for Operations Legal Services Division of SSS, Billy Lu Coo of Changxing Cellphone Merchandising failed to remit P63,445 of his employees’ SSS contributions from February 2014 to October 2017.
SSS imposed on Coo a three percent penalty for each month of failed remittance totaling P33,174.70.
Thus, Coo’s overall monetary liability to SSS reached P96,619.70, said Cuisia.
The other employer that Cuisia’s team failed to arrest was Mark Anthony Chua of Gizmo Cellphone and Accessories.
The businesses of Coo and Chua were both located inside a mall on Ledesma Street, City Proper.
According to Cuisia, employees accused Coo of violating Section 22 (a) of Republic Act 8282 (Social Security Act of 1997).
Chua, on the other hand, was charged with violating Section 10 of RA 8282 for failure to register his business with SSS.
However, the operating team found out that Coo’s business was no longer operating. In its place a new store was doing business.
“Dinatnan natin at iba na po ‘yung pangalan, Hennes Cellphone Accessories na,” said Cuisia.
There was no sign of Coo, too.
Curiously, the employees of the new store were employees of Coo, according to the SSS official.
The employees declined to speak to the operating team.
“Lumalabas na wala na tong ‘Changxing,” said Cuisia.
He suspected that Changxing Cellphone Merchandising may have just changed its business name.
Chua and his store could not be found, too.
Cuisia said this won’t stop SSS from running after Coo and Chua.
“Bibigyan natin sila ng pagkakataong mag-comply…maghulog sila ng karampatang kontribusyon at magbayad sila ng penalty,” he said, or more charges would be filed against them.
SSS is coordinating with the police in running after delinquent employers, said Cuisia.
But he stressed the importance of the public’s help in locating these employers.
“We hope to effect more pending warrants of arrest,” said Cuisia.
Of the 40 warrants of arrest issued against delinquent Iloilo employers this year from January to October, Cuisia said 10 managed to post bail; eight settled their SSS obligations; while 22 are still at large.
“There are SSS obligations that all employers must comply with. If not, they will find themselves facing civil and criminal penalties,” said Cuisia./PN
