Casiño called the existing pension pay as inhuman and insufficient for the needs of pensioners.
By ALEX D. LOPEZ
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Bayan Muna Party-List representative Teddy Casiño expressed optimism the proposed increase to the monthly pension of Social Security System (SSS) pensioners will be materialized soon.
Casiño, together with Rep. Neri Colmenares, authored House Bill 4365 seeking to amend the old SSS law to increase up to P7,000 the monthly pension of retirees.
The bill is already on second reading and was submitted to a technical working committee for review.
“Dapat ang makinabang ng malaking collection ng SSS ay ang mga miembro (It’s the members who should benefit out of the collection of SSS),” Casino said in an interview with davaotoday.com.
The progressive solon was asked of his reaction on the report of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the increase of SSS collection last year.
COA revealed that in 2011, SSS was able to collect P85.97 billion, the biggest in 11 years or since 2002, posting an excess of 2.35 percent from its target.
The boost was attributed mainly to the increase of the number of paying members that reached 10.023 million in 2011, a growth of about 3.78 percent compared to 9.659 in 2010.
“Sapat ang koleksyon na yan upang mapondohan ang panukalang taasan ang buwanang pension ng mga retirees ng SSS (The collection is enough to fund the proposed increase of the monthly pension of SSS retirees),” Casiño added.
Under the present SSS law, retirees only receive a minimum monthly pension of P1,200 per month.
Both Casiño and Colmenares called the existing pension pay as inhuman and insufficient for the needs of pensioners.
The progressive solons also urged the SSS to design and implement an aggressive program that will ensure the effective collection of remittances from delinquent employers.
On the other hand, the SSS believes an increase in contribution must also be imposed to support the proposed hike for pension. But Casiño argued that increase of contribution is no longer necessary if the agency could succeed in collecting the billions of pesos worth of uncollected remittances from delinquent employers.
But of the measures taken by SSS, COA specifically took notice on the agency’s improvement on the coverage for Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs.
It cited the caravan conducted by the agency in the Middle East and Europe in October last year aimed to assess issues that concern OFWs.
Furthermore, SSS was able to finalize a bilateral agreement with some European nations such as Portugal and Denmark to effectively reach out Filipinos working there.
Casiño said they will push for the final deliberation of HB 4365 before the end of this year.
The senate version is Senate Bill 2883 which is authored by Senator Manuel Villar. The upper house’s version also seeks to increase the SSS pension of retirees. (Alex D. Lopez, davaotoday.com)
