Koko joins calls to immediately suspend SSS contribution hike

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III joined the call to immediately suspend the hike in contributions to the Social Security System (SSS) that have taken effect starting Jan. 1, 2025.

Some groups, including private school teachers, are calling for the immediate suspension of the hikes for SSS contributions this year, expressing worries about “further erosion of already insufficient take-home pay.”

Instead of increases in the contribution, Pimentel said the SSS should be transparent on the bonuses they are giving to their executives.

“I agree with them (groups calling for the suspension of SSS contribution hike). The increase in SSS premium contribution does not lead to increases in members’ benefits,” Pimentel said in a Viber message to Senate reporters.

“SSS should be fully transparent on the bonuses that they give to their bigwigs. The performance of the board as well as the funds must be audited, assessed and judged by the members themselves. Hence the SSS should be fully transparent with their members,” the senator said.

The SSS said the increase in contribution rate was provided under Republic Act 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018. Under the law, a one-percent contribution increase would be imposed on SSS members every two years, starting from 12 percent in 2019 until it reaches 15 percent in 2025.

Starting this month, the employer’s share will be 10 percent, while the employee’s contribution is pegged at five percent.

P93.7 billion uncollected

Meanwhile, the SSS has failed to collect P93.747 billion worth of unpaid premium contributions from delinquent employers in 2023, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

In its annual audit of the state insurer, COA found SSS collected only 4.89 percent or P4.58 billion out of the P93.747 billion in collectibles from premium contributions.

Based on the audit report, the amount represents 420,627 delinquent employers that SSS failed to collect from.

Of the number of employers, about 329,189 that are still active did not avail themselves of the SSS installment plan for delinquent accounts, which amounts to over P63 billion outstanding balance.

The installment plan was one of the measures to help employers settle their delinquent accounts.

Only 103 employers with delinquent accounts have applied for the installment plan. The rest have been found inactive, temporarily suspended or have had their accounts closed or marked as dormant. These amount to P25.774 billion in the total of collectibles.

State auditors said SSS appeared to have shown leniency in collecting from delinquent employers, which “deprives SSS of much-needed funds for the timely delivery of social security protection, claims and benefits to its members and their beneficiaries.” — Neil Jayson Servallos, Mayen Jaymalin