BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – A labor rights advocate in Negros Occidental has lauded the Social Security System (SSS) here for going after delinquent employers who have been remiss in paying the contributions of their employees.
Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA), said the move made by the SSS would protect the workers and ensure that the employers are correctly remitting the contributions.
Sancho said he is hoping the SSS would continue such operation and he called on other government agencies that are also collecting employee remittances such as the Pag-IBIG Fund and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) to follow the example of the SSS and go after delinquent employers, too.
Yesterday morning, the SSS, through its “Run After Contributions Evaders” (RACE) campaign, conducted another round of operation in Bacolod City handing out another show cause orders to another six establishments.
SSS Visayas West 1 legal head, Atty. Eduard Dorsey Caratao, earlier said the delinquent establishments were given 15 days to answer the show cause orders.
Under Republic Act (RA) No. 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018, Caratao said, non-payment of SSS contributions or non-registration of employers to SSS is a criminal liability.
Penalties include six months to 12 years of imprisonment.
However, Caratao said, most of the time SSS prefers to optimize settlement whenever possible.
He also revealed yesterday morning that there are about 50 employers in Bacolod City who are already facing charges related to RA 11199.
Some of these complaints are already under litigation, he added./PN
