Group keeps hope alive for SSS pension hike

IT MAY be a longshot but a newly formed multisectoral coalition is still hoping that Congress before adjourning this week would override President Aquino’s veto of the Social Security System (SSS) pension hike.

Buhay na may Dignidad Para sa Lahat (Dignidad), a broad coalition of citizen groups calling for reforms in the government’s social service system, hopes Congress would overturn the veto and grant 1.9 million SSS pensioners, mostly hard-up senior citizens, a P2,000 monthly increase.

The coalition was formed in a forum in Quezon City on Monday.

“It’s a shot at the moon, but we still have to make that call. It was a unanimous vote by both houses for this bill. But when it was vetoed by the President, where are they now?” said Ed Tadem, president of Freedom from Debt Coalition, one of the groups comprising Dignidad.

“As a matter of principle, they should [override the veto] if they have the political will. Congress should stand on its own, show it’s an independent branch of government and not just submit to a coequal branch. It’s the proper and decent thing to do,” Tadem said.

Dignidad called for an audit of SSS funds and for the resignation of its officers for “conspiring in the grand deception” that there are no funds for a pension hike.

“There is a mismanagement of SSS and government funds. The government has reserve funds and savings, applied for purposes that are not necessary,” Tadem said.

He underscored the “numerous incentives and tax holidays” the government grants to corporations and investors, the P30-billion granted to recapitalize the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in 2014, and the BSP’s lending $1 billion to bail out ailing Europeans bankers under the International Monetary Fund’s Financial Transaction Plan.