New SSS head vows to continue investigation

The newly-appointed president and chief executive officer of the Social Security System (SSS) has vowed to continue investigations on alleged anomalies committed by certain officials of the pension fund.

Likewise, Corazon de la Paz, former chairman of Pricewater—houseCoopers, said she will be seeking legal advice on a recommendation to suspend certain SSS officials named in the ongoing investigations.

Three senior SSS officials have been named in an audited graft report, which has already been sent to Malacañang. It is now with the Presidential Commission on Anti-Graft and Corruption for appropriate action.

The three are: Horacio Templo, executive vice president; Edgardo Solilapsi, senior vice president; and Lilia Marquez, manager.

"I will also seek legal advice regarding recommendations for the suspension of the said officials during the investigations," De la Paz told newsmen during the formal turnover of Urban Bank to the Export and Import Bank (EIB).

There had been recommendations that the three officials be suspended while the investigation is ongoing.

Finance officials are recommending for a suspension since the three were at the forefront of the mass actions, which led to the departure of former SSS president Vitaliano Nañagas II. Nañagas has since been re-appointed as chairman of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

"The investigations will continue for those who have violated the law and for cases where there is prima facie evidence. It is just fair to all parties that the investigations continue rather than have a cloud of doubt hanging over their head," the new SSS chief executive added.

Formal charges are also being finalized against SSS employees who have been accused of abandoning their posts in favor of the picket lines at the SSS grounds. They will be asked to appear before the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for administrative violations.

The SSS president said it would be necessary to institute controls aside from reforms to avoid a repeat of the mass actions, which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said "should not happen again."

"We do not want it (mass actions) to be a precedent," she added.