Security agency owner sentenced for failure to remit SSS contributions
CEBU CITY – An owner of a security agency was found guilty of estafa after failing to remit Social Security System (SSS) contributions deducted from her former employee’s salary.
The Branch 2 of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in Mandaue City sentenced Arne Aballe Sarsalejo to three months and 11 days of imprisonment for violating Article 315, Paragraph 1(b) of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
The court handed down the penalty based on the amount of damage alleged in the information, which was P2,250.
Court records showed that total deductions from the complainant's salary reached P13,242.25. The court used the lower amount specified in the information to protect the accused's constitutional right to be informed of the accusation.
According to the law, if the damage does not exceed P40,000, the penalty is arresto mayor in its medium to maximum periods, which means two months and one day to six months of imprisonment.
The complainant, Junebeb T. Clatero, a former security guard at Sarsalejo Security Agency Inc., stated that SSS monthly contributions were deducted from his salary from February 2018 to March 2022. He later learned that the deducted amount was not remitted to the SSS.
The agency eventually made payments. But the court ruled that the delay itself caused temporary prejudice to Clatero, establishing the element of damage in estafa.
Section 28(h) of the Social Security Act of 2018 (Republic Act No. 11199) states that an employer who fails to remit SSS deductions within 30 days of their due date is presumed to have misappropriated those contributions and will face penalties outlined in Article 315 of the RPC.