A branch office of the SSS. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro has renewed the call for the Social Security System (SSS) to likewise defer the increase in its members’ premium contributions following similar deferments implemented by two other state insurers.
Castro, a Makabayan lawmaker, on Saturday thanked the Home Development Mutual Fund or the Pag-Ibig Fund for heeding the appeal to postpone its premium increase.
“We hope that the SSS board would also heed our call and defer their premium increase. They should help our countrymen now when they most need it and not in a future date that they may not even reach because of today’s crises,” she said.
The SSS has a scheduled contribution increase of 14 percent from 13 percent to be implemented this year.
Castro commended the Pag-Ibig Fund for listening and being “sensitive to the plight of our countrymen who are still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis.”
“We must always remember that these funds and agencies like the Pag-Ibig, SSS, GSIS, and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. were formed to make the lives of our countrymen better they should not be the cause of further hardships. The lives of Filipinos are more important than the fund life of any agency,” she added.
Earlier, the Pag-Ibig Fund announced that it would not implement an increase in members’ contributions in 2023 — the third time that the hike in monthly premiums was deferred.