SSS mismanaged, says Bongbong

Senator Bongbong Marcos. AP FILE PHOTO

The Social Security System (SSS) would have been able to afford the proposed P2,000 pension increase had it been better managed, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos said, as he called for the replacement of SSS officials he described as political appointees.

“We have to find better managers who will  provide for the kind of insurance our pensioners have worked for all their lives,” Marcos said in a Senate forum.

Marcos defended the senators’ move to come up with a resolution expressing the sense that they want to override the President’s veto of the pension increase.

Marcos is among those who have signed the draft resolution, to be filed once it gets the signatures of 16 senators.

It was not politicking, he said, but an attempt to help the people denied financial relief by the government.

The resolution, while not overriding the veto, is intended to convince the House of Representatives to override the President’s decision. Any move to override the veto must originate from the House.

Many senior SSS members have lamented the President’s veto, saying the proposed pension increase would help them cope with the rising prices of commodities.

The President said the SSS could not approve the increase because it would threaten the viability of the agency.

Marcos noted that the SSS only had a 35-percent collection rate. “That shows a great deal of inefficiency,” he said.

He also said the SSS managers had apparently not made good investments, which was why the agency was not earning enough to fund the pension increase.

The SSS was better managed in previous years, Marcos said. “We have to find better people. I don’t think they’re doing a good job,” he said.

According to Marcos, the positions on the SSS board were “cushy” appointments given to political allies.

Marcos also said the SSS officials were to blame for not doing their job well but the President shared responsibility for picking people who could not seem to do the job.

“Once you find they cannot do the job, you look at once for someone who can do it,” he added.

As for the senators’ proposed resolution seeking to override the President’s veto, Marcos said this was a response to the administration’s refusal to provide additional tax relief to the people.

He pointed out that the government had opposed the move to adjust income tax rates.