SENATORS on Tuesday moved to “professionalize” composition of the board of directors of the Social Security System in a bid to insulate the SSS Board from “political influence.”
“We have improved the SSS charter,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon told reporters, adding: “the first important change is that we professionalize the membership of the SSS Board by requiring that the members of the board should be a lawyer or involved in management or banking, insurance, so that their qualifications will be fit to the requirements of the SSS.”
Drilon pointed out that the SSS is a fund that should be properly managed “for the future of our retirees or employees, so this is very important that the commission should be composed of professional members.”
The senator noted that the secretary of finance chairs the commission that oversees the fund “because, again, this is a payroll tax and therefore, the secretary of finance should be the ex-officio chairman.”
“Again, it will put professionalism in the commission,” Drilon added. “Then, to remove the commission from political influence, the commission members have a term and they have the right to approve whatever increase in benefits.”
Moreover, the Senate Minority Leader affirmed that the premium payments are fixed in the law “because, again, this is a payroll tax and it should not be left to their discretion.”
“Basically, the version of the Senate was adopted,” said Drilon.
Repeal
MEANWHILE, Sen. Richard J. Gordon pressed for early enactment into law of his bill repealing the old SSS Law to “ensure longer life for the pension fund and provide better benefits” to SSS members.
Passed by senators on third reading, Gordon’s Senate Bill 1753, to be known as the Social Security Act of 2018, aims to “rationalize and expand the powers and duties of the Social Security Commission to ensure the long-term viability of the SSS and thereby guarantee better benefits for members of the state-run pension fund.”
Gordon said the remedial legislation was crafted so that more Filipinos would be covered by the SSS “so they could build better nest eggs for their retirement.”
He explained that the proposed Social Security Act of 2018 is “an enhancement of the previous laws and ensures hope that the people would not be a burden to the country; that they are partners of the government not by way of exaction of taxes but by their contribution so that their welfare is assured.”
According to Gordon, the proposed law will “expand, protect and increase the SSS fund so that when the time comes, there would be available pension for the people.”
Culture
GORDON added the proposed law will also “ensure a more meaningful social security protection to members and their beneficiaries against the hazards of disability, sickness, maternity, old age, death and other contingencies resulting in loss of income or financial burden.”
He further said the bill will give the SSS the power to determine the salary credit and monthly contributions of members, which would now allow the commission to increase contributions “depending on the actuarial survey.”
At the same time, he said the proposed law would also empower the SSS to invest its Reserve Funds to “grow the wealth of SSS and ultimately yield higher income.” However, the investments must satisfy requirements of liquidity, safety/security and yield “to ensure the actuarial solvency of the funds of the SSS.”
“We want to develop a culture of work, save, invest [and] prosper. The bill envisions a benefits-based system—what you invest is what you get; no investment, no benefit,” Gordon explained. “But the maximum profitability of investible funds and resources of the program shall be ensured through a culture of excellence in management grounded upon sound and efficient policies employing internationally recognized best practices.”