Bicam-approved SSS bill to hike contribution rates to 12% in 2019

The monthly contributions to the Social Security System is expected to go up in 2019 after a bicameral conference committee approved the proposed Social Security Act of 2018.

Only the ratification of the Senate and the House of Representatives and the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte are standing in the way of the enactment of the social security bill.

Under the provisions of the proposed SSS law, the contribution rate will increase from the current 11 percent of one's salary to 12 percent in the next two years.

The P16,000 maximum salary credit will also be increased to P20,000.

Under the proposed law, the contribution rate shall gradually increase to reach 15 percent by 2025.

The maximum salary credit shall by then be at P35,000.

The bill also provides for an unemployment insurance under which an individual could get half of his or her monthly salary credit for two months of being in between jobs.

‘Game-changer’

Senator Richard Gordon, sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, described the measure as a game changer and expected to extend the fund life of SSS by at least six years.

Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the joint panel basically adopted the version of the Senate.

He said the panels of the Senate and House have improved the charter of the Social Security System.

He said the first important change is professionalizing the membership of the SSS board by requiring them to be a lawyer or involved in management or banking or insurance "so that their qualifications will be fit to the requirements of the SSS."

"Remember that the SSS is a fund and you manage the fund for the future of our retirees or employees, so it is very important that the commission should be composed of professional members," he told reporters after the bicam meeting at the Senate.

Drilon added the ex-officio chairman of the SSS commission is the Secretary of Finance.

"Again, this is a payroll tax and therefore, the Secretary of Finance should be the ex-officio chair. Again, it will put professionalism in the commission," he said. —NB, GMA News