Solons seek deferment of SSS contribution rate hike

MANILA – Two party-list lawmakers have filed a measure seeking to defer the scheduled rate hike in Social Security System (SSS) premium contributions this year.

CIBAC Party-list Reps. Eddie Villanueva and Domeng Rivera filed Tuesday House Bill 8304, which seeks to defer the mandated increase this year and even provides that increases in SSS rates shall be suspended in the event of a pandemic.

The bill proposes to amend Republic Act 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018, which mandates that the employers’ and employees’ share to SSS contributions shall be increased to 8.5 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively – an increase of 0.5 percent from last year’s level.

“The truth is that both laborers and employers suffered from the debilitating blow of the pandemic and therefore must be provided not only with necessary government assistance but also of needed reprieve from statutory salary deductions such as the SSS premium contribution,” Villanueva said.

Villanueva further noted that the deferment in SSS rate hike would mean undiminished level of disposable income for Filipino workers and employers which will help them cope and survive during these hard times.

According to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, about 27.3 million Filipinos or 45.5 percent of the labor force lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Villanueva argued that even those who managed to keep their jobs also suffered reduced pay as companies are forced to cut costs or downsize to keep afloat.

“We thus call on Congress to pass with dispatch this much-needed legislation so that millions of Filipino employers and employees can be given enough space for them to get fully back on their feet,” Villanueva said.

Rivera, for his part, said the bill would serve as a counterpart measure of a similar bill filed by Senator Joel Villanueva at the Senate.

“By having counterpart measures being simultaneously deliberated in both chambers of Congress, we expect an expeditious passage of this measure which we believe is very much-needed by our fellow Filipinos who are grappling for survival amidst this pandemic,” Rivera said.