CAGAYAN de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has filed a resolution urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to suspend the implementation of the increase in the Social Security System (SSS) premium contribution of millions of private sector employees that takes effect this month, which was pushed during the former Duterte administration.

In Resolution No. 2161 filed Thursday, Rodriguez said the one percentage-point increase “will be an additional burden to employers and employees who are struggling to make ends meet.”

He said SSS should also “first address their (collection) inefficiency (as reported by the Commission on Audit) before pushing through with the increase.”

SSS officials must likewise “disclose to the Filipino people” their “huge bonuses” and compensation, he said.

The premium contribution adjustment is contained under Section 4 of Republic Act No. 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018, signed into law by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Under the law, the premium contribution was pegged at 12 percent of a contributor’s monthly salary for 2019 and 2010, 13 percent for 2021 and 2022, 14 percent for 2023 and 2024, and 15 percent for this year.

The employer’s share of the contribution was similarly gradually adjusted from 8 percent in 2019 to 10 percent this year. The employee’s portion went up from 4 percent to 5 percent over the same period.

“There is growing opposition to the scheduled increase in consideration of the current economic situation in the Philippines,” Rodriguez said in his resolution.

He cited the report of the Philippine Statistics Authority showing that inflation, or the rate of increase in prices, jumped to 2.9 percent in December 2024 from 2.5 percent the previous month.

This meant that prices rose more quickly, he said.

“Higher inflation can lead to a loss of purchasing power and increasing SSS contributions will be an additional financial burden especially to employees,” he said.

He said the clamor to suspend the increase was also “due to the fact that revenue of SSS in 2023 was P353.82 billion, which was higher than that of the previous year,” while the pension system’s 2023 net income amounted to P83.13 billion, exceeding its target of P51.06 billion.

Rodriguez also highlighted the 2023 report of the Commission on Audit showing “an inefficiency in the collection of premium contributions from delinquent employers.”

“The audit report shows that only P4.581 billion was collected, which is only around 4.89 percent of the established collectibles of P93.747 billion for 2023,” he said.

If the Mindanao lawmaker’s colleagues approved his resolution, the suspension call would become a sense of the House of Representatives.

Other lawmakers and workers’ groups have called for suspending this year’s SSS premium increase.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Ryan Ponce Pacpaco