LABOR SAY SSS CAN AFFORD P2K PENSION HIKE IN ONE. NOT TWO GIVES

Malacanang announced last week that President Duterte has approved the long awaited proposal to increase by P2,000 the SSS pension, in two gives, P1,000 this year (2017) and P1,000 in 2022 when he leaves office. PUDU30 also adjusted the MSC cap from P16k to P20k. He also plans to increase SSS contribution by 1.5% starting May 2017 and 1.0% every year up to 2022, raising the SSS contribution rate from 11% to 17% in five years… Annabel’s Kapihan sa QC, January 14, 2017 with former PM Cong. & “NAGKAISA” spokesperson Rene Magtubo.

PRESS STATEMENT / From:Lakas Manggagawa Labor Center
January 14, 2017 / Contact Person:Dave Diwa, President, National
Labor Union (NLU) & Vice-President, LMLC Contact No.: 0919-011-5788 & 0927-649-6857
*For Immediate Release

Labor say SSS can afford P2k pension hike in one blow

Already, President Duterte has fulfilled three of his well-known election campaign promises.

He promised to bury former Pres. Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. That has been done. He promised a “bloody presidency.” So far 6,000 people have been killed in the war against drugs, not counting the civilians, soldiers, terrorists or rebels killed in the fight against subversion and terrorism.

The third, President Duterte’s promise to the pensioners to increase by P2,000 the SSS pension, will come in two tranches: P1,000 this year beginning this month and another P1,000 in 2022 or five years from today.

There are reportedly 2.2 million pensioners, both living and dead. The minimum monthly pension is P1,000; the average is between P2,400 and P3,273 and the highest is P17,945.

The increase however comes with another promise to increase SSS premiums or contributions by 1.5%, that is from the present contribution rate of 11% to 12.5% starting May 2017 and raising the maximum monthly salary credit (MSC) to P20.000 from the current P16,000.

A minimum wage earner in Metro Manila receiving a daily wage of P491.00 or P12,766 a month will now pay to the SSS pension fund 1,595 or thereabouts. Simply raising the cap on the MSC from P16,000 to P20,000 will yield an additional PP500-1,000 per month.

What is not seen behind all these adjustments is the plan to raise the SSS contribution rate from 12.5% to 17% in five years or until 2022.

Apart from the bloody spectacle that we see in the “war on drugs” this SSS hike in contribution rate and raising the cap on monthly salary credit is the “killer” of them all.

The Lakas Manggagawa Labor Center takes the stand that the P2,000 SSS pension increase should have been granted in one blow simply because, under the scheme laid out by President Duterte, the Social Security System or SSS can afford it.

That would have made President Duterte’s promise to increase by P2,000 the SSS pension come true today, not when he leaves office in 2022.

It is good for the workers, employers, pensioners and the SSS.

It is a promise well kept; not a double-talk.