YOU ARE SERVED Members of the Social Security System’s Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE) team are shown serving the RACE order at an establishment in Baliwag City on Thursday. —Carmela Reyes-Estrope
CITY OF BALIWAG, BULACAN, Philippines — Ten employers in Bulacan province, which included three private school owners, were served last week the Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE) order by the Social Security System (SSS) for failure to remit the contributions of their respective employees.
Chelin Lea Nabong, acting branch head of the SSS in Baliwag, said 125 employees were in danger of losing their contributions due to the failure of their employers to settle the collections on Nov. 19.
She said these workers hold different positions at the three private schools, a furniture company, a restaurant, a “carinderia” (eatery), a rice store, a manpower company, and a beauty wellness center located in Baliwag and the town of Bustos.
READ: SSS orders 1,200 firms to remit P 335-M workers’ contributions
SSS Baliwag covers the City of Baliwag and the towns of Plaridel, Pulilan, Bustos, San Rafael, San Ildefonso and San Miguel.
Nabong, in an interview during the serving of the RACE orders last Tuesday, said the contributions that were not remitted reached P3.2 million covering the periods from January to September this year.
According to Nabong, their branch has so far served 13 RACE orders this year, for the benefit of 1,245 employees from 101 companies.
These companies, she said, also included those that operate but have yet to register their employees with SSS.
Continued defiance
Faith Henriet Arao, lawyer III in SSS Central Luzon Legal Department who took part in the operation on Nov. 19, said the companies served with RACE were those that still failed to remit their employees’ SSS contributions despite earlier advice.
In an interview on Monday, Gloria Corazon Andrada, SSS vice president for Central Luzon 2 Division, said the SSS monitors the accounts of the employers and immediately detects who are noncompliant.
But other than this, she said, the affected employees can also make direct notifications and complaints to their office.
“We also have cases where contributions were made but were only partial. We also serve them RACE order for failure to remit the next sets of the contributions they promised to settle,” added Andrada, who was also involved in serving of RACE orders on Nov. 19.
According to Andrada, employers that will still fail to comply after a third notice will already result in the filing of cases against them.
During the serving of the RACE orders, the head of one of the affected schools informed the SSS team that they were having financial difficulties and were seeking help from private and government donors. INQ