Senator Joel Villanueva lauded the signing of the law that would allow the President to defer Social Security System (SSS) contribution hikes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Maraming salamat po sa ating Pangulo (We thank our President). But having been given that power, the President must now pull the trigger so to speak," Villanueva, chairman of the Senate labor committee and a principal author of the bill in the chamber, said in a statement Friday, May 28.
“The fate of the law is now on his hands. It will not automatically take effect. It is up to the President to exercise that prerogative," he added.
Republic Act No. 11548, signed by President Duterte on May 26, amends the Social Security Act of 2018 to authorize him, upon the recommendation of the Social Security Commission, to suspend the one-percentage point increase on SSS membership contribution.
SSS contributions were supposed to increase from 12 percent to 13 percent of a member’s monthly salary starting January 1, 2021.
Villanueva said the suspension will not hurt the financial viability of the state-run pension fund for private workers “as it is temporary, not permanent.”
“The suspension is not a forgiveness but a freeze, for the time being and not forever. It will not cover the entire monthly contribution but only the increase that is supposed to take effect this year," he said.
"When there is little to draw from an economy bleeding jobs, from businesses hemorrhaging from lack of sales, from workers who have to work shorter hours for less, then the government must extend to those who pay this payroll tax the same relief it had extended to those with house rents and bank loans and that is a moratorium," the senator pointed out.
Villanueva expressed hope that Duterte will order a freeze in the SSS contribution raise soon.
“Otherwise, he would have vetoed it. There is no point in affixing your signature on a law you do not intend to implement," he said.
“The effect of not exercising that power is to give the go signal to SSS to start collecting higher pension premiums from its members," he added.
In March 2020, Duterte, through Proclamation No. 929, placed the entire country under a state of calamity due to the coronavirus pandemic. Through another proclamation, he extended the duration to September 12, 2021.