Senator Cynthia Villar. SCREENGRAB from INQUIRER.net FILE VIDEO

Senator Cynthia Villar is confident that the Senate will approve a bill granting a P2,000 across-the-board increase in the pension of 1.9 million Social Security System (SSS) members.

Villar, chair of the Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprises, said House Bill No. 5842, which seeks to amend Section 12 of Republic Act 1161 or the Social Security Act of 1997, would be among the priority legislations when the chamber resumes its session Tuesday afternoon.

“We will have the votes. Majority of senators support this measure because we all believe that what our pensioners receive after working for 20 years or more, is definitely inadequate and not sufficient to cover the rising cost of living,” she said in a statement.

READ: Bill on SSS pension increase approved by Senate committee

The bill, which is now on second reading, is principally sponsored by Villar, and co-sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senators Teofisto Guingona III, Francis Escudero, Ramon Revilla Jr., and JV Ejercito. Same bills were also filed by Senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, and Antonio Trillanes IV.

The House of Representatives already approved the bill on third reading last June.

The pension hike will benefit SSS pensioners who have worked and remitted premiums for 10 to 20 years. The minimum pension is P1,200 for members with at least 10 credited years of service and P2,400 for those with 20 credited years of service. As of April 2015, the average pension is P3,169.

In sponsoring the committee report on the bill last August 26, Villar said: “It is a sad reality that majority of retired workers in our country rely solely on their monthly pension for their upkeep. On a daily basis, it would barely cover for their sustenance. Kulang pa siguro sa pagkain nila iyon (That is perhaps not even enough for their food expenses). We must also consider that many of them, given their old age, may even have maintenance medicines and special requirements that add to their daily living expenses.”

The senator was also quick to shoot down the proposal of SSS to increase members’ contribution from 11 percent to 15 percent to be able to fund the pension hike up to year 2042.

“SSS has billions of unremitted collections and uncollected premiums. They should at least improve their collection efforts first, before thinking of increasing members’ contribution—which seems to be the easiest thing to do for them,” she said. RAM