SSS collects P502.8 million under amnesty program

MANILA, Philippines - The Social Security System (SSS), the state-owned pension fund for private employees, has collected a total of P502.83 million worth of overdue contributions from 5,695 employers all over the country under an amnesty program, SSS officer-in-charge Horacio Templo said over the weekend.

He said employers who fail to take advantage of the amnesty program, which will lapse tomorrow, and still have unpaid contributions, face criminal charges and imprisonment of six to 12 years on top of monthly penalties and fines.

“This is the last chance for delinquent employers to avoid paying penalties. There will be no extension after Aug. 2 because the law condoning penalties on overdue SSS premiums only provides for a six-month availment period,” Templo said.

Under the Social Security Act of 1997, employers are required to remit contributions to SSS on or before the 10th day of the following month and those who miss the monthly deadline are charged a three percent penalty.

However, delinquent employers had the opportunity to clear their books of delinquent contributions without having to pay accumulating penalties when the Social Security Condonation Law of 2009 took effect on Feb. 1, 2010.

Under the condonation law, employers who pay their delinquencies in full or submit an installment payment proposal within the availment period will have all their penalties condoned.

Of the P502.83 million worth of overdue contributions remitted to the SSS, payments from the National Capital Region (NCR) amounted to P379.86 million or 76 percent of total.

“About 63 percent or 3,568 of employers who availed of the amnesty were from NCR, 1,510 from Luzon and 617 from Visayas and Mindanao, according to SSS data as of July 15,” Tetangco noted.