Bread factory owner nabbed for failing to pay workers’ SSS premiums

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A businessman was arrested on Wednesday allegedly for failing to remit Social Security System (SSS) premiums of his workers, police said.

Bienvenido Macaraeg Jr., proprietor of bread and pastries maker Sunny Farm Foods on J.R. Borja Extension here, was arrested inside a mall by policemen from the regional Philippine National Police (PNP) office, regional intelligence division and officials of the SSS.

Lt. Col. Mardy Hortillosa, regional PNP spokesperson, said Macaraeg had been charged with violating the Social Security Act.

Hortillosa said Judge Marites Filomena Rana-Bernales of the 10th Judicial Region Branch 39 had issued the warrant of arrest against Macaraeg in 2017.

In a phone interview on Thursday, Oct. 10, Carlos Flaviano, SSS regional intelligence officer, said Macaraeg, who employed 28 people, failed to pay his workers’ premiums worth P1.2 million from 2011 to 2015.

Macaraeg told the police he did not receive any notice from the SSS and that he was not aware of his mounting obligations. Flaviano denied this. “We have given him time (to pay),” Flaviano said.

He said his office had written Macaraeg several times demanding payment before filing a formal complaint at the prosecutor’s office.

Macaraeg even went to the SSS office, promising to pay in installments but failed to make the initial payment.

Hortillosa said police would coordinate with SSS in arresting employers who fail to pay workers’ premiums.

Brig. Gen. Rafael Santiago Jr. also warned delinquent employers of the legal consequences of failing to pay premiums and loans of workers./TSB