Suspension of SSS officials sought

One of the country’s largest labor federations has called for the suspension of executives of the Social Security System (SSS) accused of using its stockbrokers for their personal benefit.

At the same time, a party-list lawmaker demanded that the SSS leadership freeze the bank accounts of the officers and sequester their shares of stock.

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said the suspension of SSS officers involved in the controversy would safeguard documents and prevent them from influencing an internal investigation.

ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said the labor group was also calling for a transparent and credible investigation into the controversy.

“Had it not been exposed in the news, the members wouldn’t know about it. We fear that the members’ money will be compromised and there will be collusion among officials of the SSS,” Tanjusay said in a statement.

The alleged profiteering by three SSS officers — executive vice president for investments Rizaldy Capulong, equities investment division chief Reginald Candelaria and equities product development head Ernesto Francisco Jr.—has prompted the head of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries to seek an inquiry.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, chair of the House committee, said on Tuesday that he would file a resolution on Thursday to initiate an inquiry “in the exercise of its oversight functions.”

Evardone’s pronouncement came after SSS Commissioner Jose Gabriel La Viña filed an administrative complaint for serious dishonesty and grave misconduct against the three officers.

Capulong, Candelaria and Francisco allegedly profited illegally from their positions by trading stocks for their personal accounts since they used the same brokers who also handled the equities investments of the P500-billion pension fund.

“The first problem is these three guys have a major role in approving stockbrokers and allocating trades,” La Viña said on Monday.

He said the three officers even received coveted allocations for shares of companies in the initial public offering stage that allowed them to get returns of 15 percent in just one to two weeks.

Conflict of interest

La Viña said Capulong, Candelaria and Francisco used an SSS-accredited broker for their personal trades, which he noted amounted to a conflict of interest.

Chief actuary George Ongkeko Jr. was accused of gross negligence for allegedly failing to keep complete records of the three officials’ trades.

La Viña, social media director of President Duterte’s 2016 election campaign, filed his complaint on Oct. 24 with the Social Security Commission, which gave the four officials until last Monday to reply.

The alleged malfeasance is now being investigated by the Social Security Commission, according to SSS Chair Amado Valdez.

The Inquirer tried to reach the officials for their side but received no reply except for Francisco who declined to comment, citing legal rules against commenting on the merits of a case that is currently being heard in court or, in this case, by the SSS highest policy making body.

The head of the SSS labor union urged the leadership of the pension fund to shield the organization from the probe, saying that any attempt to conduct a “trial by publicity” may end up hurting SSS members.

Freeze assets

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said filing charges and prosecuting the four SSS officers were not enough.

“The SSS must move to immediately freeze all banks/financial accounts and sequester stocks and assets and its proceeds in favor of the SSS fund,” Zarate said in a statement.

Evardone said that aside from the issue of corruption, “we will try to find out if SSS funds, which are owned by millions of members, were not lost in the transactions, especially in light of the proposed increase in members’ contributions.”

“We should safeguard the SSS funds to ensure its viability and enable it to pay its obligations to its members,” he added.

Besides the loss of profitable investment opportunities, Evardone said his committee would look into the possibility that SSS funds coming from ordinary employees’ contributions were misused.

Contributions increase

The alleged malfeasance came to light amid the SSS push to increase in January the rate of members’ contributions to 12.5 percent of the monthly salary credit, from the current 11 percent.

The increase in employees’ contributions is aimed at offsetting the hike in the pension of retired members, which supposedly shortened the fund’s life.

Zarate said the irregularity meant that imposing additional contributions on ordinary employees would be “not only baseless but outright unjust and immoral.”

“This is truly infuriating considering that those in charge of increasing and improving the members’ fund life through prudent and high-return investments are instead the ones sabotaging it,” he said.

Zarate said it was “criminally shameless for these people to even push for a contribution increase.”

Due process

In a telephone interview, Alert and Concerned Employees for Better SSS president Amorsolo Competente called on La Viña to refrain from engaging in trial by publicity to avoid tainting the entire organization.

“We will fight wrongdoing in all forms,” the SSS union head said. “But what we want to say is trial by publicity is wrong. Once a complaint has been filed, it should fall under sub judice rules. We should not allow ourselves to be interviewed about the merits of the case. That is no longer due process. Let’s be careful.”

Competente said the union “will not tolerate wrongdoing in government,” but added that due process should be accorded to all parties involved.

He expressed concern that allegations of wrongdoing among the fund’s senior officials may jeopardize the welfare of its 35 million members who work in the private sector. —WITH A REPORT FROM TINA G. SANTOS