House ratifies bill allowing President to suspend scheduled SSS rate hikes

The House of Representatives on Thursday ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed measure seeking to suspend the hikes in contribution rates of the Social Security System during national emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the plenary session, the lower chamber of Congress approved the bicameral report on the disagreeing provisions for House Bill 8512 and Senate Bill 2027, which grants power to the President to suspend scheduled SSS rate increases.

This will allow the President, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Department of Health and the Department of Finance as ex-officio chairpersons of PhilHealth and SSS, respectively, “to suspend the implementation of the scheduled increases in premium rates in times of national emergencies when public interest so requires.”

The measure seeks to amend the Social Security Act of 2018 which allows the gradual increases in the monthly premium contributions of SSS members.

House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco earlier said the proposed measure would benefit some 37.7 million SSS paying members.

“Since Filipinos have barely recovered from losses and difficulties brought by COVID-19 and given the urgency of the matter, we believe that empowering the President to suspend the scheduled increases in PhilHealth and SSS contribution rates is the most prudent action we can take to give our people much-needed relief from the negative effects of the pandemic,” Velasco had said.

“While we understand that there will be a shortfall on the expected collections of PhilHealth and SSS, it is not so dire as to not give our countrymen some breathing space from their financial burdens," he added.

On Wednesday, the Senate also ratified the said report. With this, the measure will be sent to Malacañang for the President's signature or veto. —AOL, GMA News