After two government-controlled funds deferred their contribution rate increases for 2023, House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro on Saturday, Jan. 7, called on the Social Security System (SSS) to likewise suspend its planned contribution increase for this year.
This call came after the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund, and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) postponed the increase in premium rates and income ceilings supposed to take effect this 2023.
“We hope that the SSS board would also heed our call and defer their premium increase. They should help our countrymen now when they most need it and not in a future date that they may not even reach because of today's crises,” the lawmaker said in a statement after the pension fund earlier claimed that the planned contribution hike would help fund higher benefit disbursements.
"We must always remember that these funds and agencies like the Pag-IBIG, SSS, GSIS and Philhealth were formed to make the lives of our countrymen better they should not be the cause of further hardships,” she added.
Castro stressed that Filipinos’ lives are more important than the life of any government fund after the SSS said that its scheduled contribution rate hike to 14 percent from 13 percent this year would result in a 22-year extension of the fund’s life.
The lawmaker had been seeking the deferment of contribution hikes of SSS, Pag-IBIG, and Philhealth, but so far, only Pag-IBIG and Philhealth had heeded the call.
On Saturday, she also lauded Pag-IBIG for choosing to defer the scheduled monthly premium hike for the third time.
"It is good that Pag-IBIG listened and is sensitive to the plight of our countrymen who are still reeling from the Covid pandemic and the economic crises," Castro said.
The current minimum monthly contribution of Pag-IBIG members is at P200, which is equally shared by employers and employees.
The fund’s rates remain unchanged since 1986 and had stricken off plans to increase its rate from P100 to P150 “in recognition of the continuing effects of the pandemic to both the business community and our members.”