A bill that seeks to provide social protection to the working poor like farmers, fishermen, market and street vendors, tricycle drivers and millions of micro-business owners has been filed at the Senate.
Under Senate Bill No. 2746 filed by Sen. Bam Aquino, the government will match every contribution of the working poor to the Social Security System (SSS), the same way an employer matches the contribution of their employees.
“This will enable the working poor to access loans and other benefits from SSS, giving them the opportunity to get out of poverty and succeed on their own,” Aquino, chair of the Senate committee on trade, commerce and entrepreneurship, said in a statement on Friday.
He said the bill also known as the Working Poor Protection Act of 2015 will also give the working poor a chance to avail of social protection packages that SSS provides, such as disability, sickness, maternity, old age, and death benefits.
“Let us ensure that the Filipino dream is realized—that all Filipinos are being provided with the right opportunity, the break that they need to succeed on their own and the environment where they are able to help themselves,” said Aquino, who worked with micro-businesses before he became a senator.
“Wala dapat maiiwan tungo sa tinatamasa nating kaunlaran (No one should be left behind on our way to progress),” he said.
The senator noted that while the poorest of the poor were covered by the government’s social protection programs, only 6.5 percent of the 12 million self-employed Filipinos were paying their SSS contributions.
“As they earn below P100,000 annually, the working poor’s contributions, unfortunately, are not regular, thus depriving them of a chance to enjoy social protection from the SSS,” he said. RC