SSS expects to recover more than half of contribution collectibles

THE Social Security System (SSS) said it may only be able to recover more than half of the expected collectibles from the agency’s condonation program, noting that out of over 132,000 established delinquent employers, only 16,460 of them have availed of the amnesty program in the first three months of the implementation.

The implementation of the agency’s condonation and non-imposition of penalties on delinquent contributions of employers, which started last March, is only until Sept. 1.

“Since the Contribution Penalty Condonation Program started last March 5, 2019, from 16,460 employers with about 155,112 employees, SSS has collected P378.71 million in unpaid premiums and waived more than P1 billion in penalties, this does not include the household employers,” SSS President and CEO Aurora C. Ignacio said in a press briefing at the Palace on Wednesday.

In March, the agency urged more than 132,000 delinquent employers to avail of the condonation program as the one-time amnesty is expected to waive about P13.91 billion worth of penalties. About P10.66 billion in unpaid premiums based on established collectibles were expected to be collected from the program.

Asked whether getting all the remaining delinquent employers to avail of the program is still achievable, Ms. Ignacio said with three months left, “they don’t expect to collect all 100% but since we’re already about three months in to the condonation program and we were able to achieve around that numbers, 16,000, we will do a good job by achieving more than 50%.”

“We would like to target 100%, but since it’s beyond our control, we will do a lot of our marketing efforts to inform everybody that the condonation program is available until September 1,” she added.

She noted that it is common among Filipinos to “come when it’s about deadline, so we expect more to come in the month of August.”

The penalty condonation for delinquent contributions is a transitory provision of the Republic Act No. 11199, also known as the “Social Security Act of 2018.”

The law seeks to help employers, including household employers, to comply with the Social Security Act of 2018.

“If all the delinquent employers in our established collectibles settle their unpaid premiums, more than 1.4 million employees stand to benefit [from] the benefits of SSS because these workers can finally maximize their benefits and privileges as SSS members,” Ms. Ignacio noted.

She added that interested employers should submit their letters of intent to the nearest SSS branch.

“Applicants who want to remit their contribution delinquency in full should wait for the branch approval while the employers who choose to settle their contribution delinquency through installment should submit a proposal and collection list to the SSS branch,” Ms. Ignacio said. — Arjay L. Balinbin