Lawmakers seek P7,000 minimum SSS pension

MANILA, Philippines –  Two lawmakers have proposed that the minimum monthly pension of retired private sector workers from the Social Security System (SSS) be increased to P7,000.

At present, SSS members with at least ten credited years of service are given a monthly pension of P1,200, while those with twenty years get P2,400.

Representatives Teddy Casiño and Neri Colmenares of the party-list group Bayan Muna are seeking the increase in Bill 4365 “to enable SSS retirees to cope with the continuing escalation in the cost of living.”

“The amount that these retirees receive as monthly pension is rendered sadly inadequate to meet even the barest of their needs,” they said.

They said their proposed adjustment would make the pension “more responsive to the basic needs of retirees.”

Under the bill, the minimum pensions of P1,200 and P2,400 would be immediately increased to P4,000, which would go up by P500 a year until it reaches P7,000.

The adjustment and the annual increment would be applicable to all retirees, regardless of when they retired.

Those receiving pensions above P4,000 would get a commensurate increase to eliminate distortions in the pension program.

Casiño and Colmenares lamented that the present pension rates have not been adjusted for many years even for inflation despite the fact that consumer prices have gone up significantly.

They also said they could not understand why the SSS could not give bigger pensions to its members like its government counterpart, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). They said GSIS retirees receive as much as 80 percent of their basic salary as pension. –Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star)