Bayan Muna to SSS: Bare data on uncollected premiums

MANILA, Philippines —  The Social Security System (SSS) should be more transparent instead of denying its P437 billion uncollected premiums and penalties since 2010 as based on “old” findings, Bayan Muna Chairman and Makabayan senatorial bet Neri Colmenares and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate maintained on Friday.

Colmenares and Zarate earlier assailed SSS to improve its inefficient collection rate before increasing contribution. But Emmanuel Dooc, SSS president and chief executive, said the data given by the two were based on old findings by the Commission on Audit (COA).

READ: Colmenares: SSS has P437B uncollected dues since 2010 | Billions in uncollected premiums by SSS bared

Dooc also said their uncollected contributions and penalties had reached only P13.8 billion, not P437 billion, as per COA’s 2017 report.

READ: SSS: Colmenares claim based on old COA numbers

But Colmenares stressed that he had been asking the SSS for a copy of its financial status and collections, to no avail.

Belying Dooc’s claim that his figures were “old,” Colmenares maintained that he based his numbers from official COA findings.

“These are the latest annual figures showing that the amount of uncollected premiums have actually been increasing since 2016. Is Mr. Dooc disputing this? In fact, he himself admits that they are collecting premiums from only 15 to 16 million out of 36 million SSS members. That’s dismal and leaves so much room for improvement,” said Colmenares.

“Unfortunately, the SSS has repeatedly refused to tell us how they are addressing this matter. For example from the billions of pesos uncollected since 2010, how much have they just condoned and scrapped from their list? For their so-called increased collection efficiency, what percentage of their total membership have they collected from? Unless they show the details, we have no way of knowing how the problem is being addressed,” added the Makabayan senatorial bet.

Zarate meanwhile said Dooc “should stop trying to divert the issue that politics is in play,” pointing out that the issue of pension has been one of the advocacies of Colmenares and Bayan Muna since 2011. He also said their party-list had filed numerous resolutions to investigate the different “scams and anomalies” in the SSS since 2011.

President Rodrigo Duterte recently signed the SSS Rationalization Act which would increase the monthly contributions from 11 to 12 percent this year, up to 15 percent by 2025.  /muf

READ: SSS to hike contribution rate to 12% in 2019 | New law to increase SSS contributions