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Saturday, February 15, 2003
Cebu employers may oppose SSS contribution increase
By Linette C. Ramos
CEBU -- Employers' groups vowed to oppose the increase in their Social Security System (SSS) contributions if their study reveals the adjudment will place them at a great disadvantage.
Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Jose Ng said they have already commissioned a study on the exact amount an employer will be paying, as well as the impact and affordability of the increase on businessmen and employers in Cebu.
“We have to consider so many things tungod aning kapait sa negosyo diri sa Cebu karon. We have to find out if all can afford it. If we find out that the increase is very minimal and will mean better benefits and services for our workers, then businessmen will be more than willing to comply,” Ng told Sun.Star.
“But if we find out that they are asking too much and employers cannot afford it, then by all means we will oppose the increase,” he said.
Implementation
Regardless of the findings of the study that CCCI is conducting, SSS will already start to implement the one percent increase in the contributions effective March 1, SSS cluster head for Central Visayas Helen Solito, said.
The hike will be shouldered solely by the employers, while the employees will continue to pay their 3.33 percent share as before.
The employer’s share will increase from 5.07 percent to 6.07 percent, Solito explained.
“Definitely, we will implement the increase on March 1 because the Social Security Commission and President Arroyo approved it already. It is a very modest increase for the employers and it will have no effect on the employees,” she assured.
SSS had been seeking an increase in the contribution rate since last year “to correct the imbalance between contributions and benefit payments.”
SSS executive vice president Horacio Templo said in a statement that benefits had been exceeding contributions since 1993, placing the fund at risk of being depleted by 2015.
Ng also said the increase surprised them since they were not consulted on the matter.
“The increase will be negligible for employers who only have two or three workers but how about those employing more than a thousand workers? It will be very heavy for them,” he said.
By March 1, employers will already be paying P424.70 monthly contribution for each worker earning P7,250 every month, instead of only P354.90 under the present setup.
Employees will still pay P233.30 or 3.33 percent of their equivalent monthly salary bracket. Workers earning P7,250 every month fall under the P7,000 salary bracket.
Bad news
Like CCCI, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) considers the SSS move bad news, although they will not oppose the increase.
Lawyer Danilo Deen, former Ecop-Cebu president, said SSS now seems to be passing to employers the effects of the bad performance of the SSS administration by increasing contributions.
“There has been so much contributions in the past and now they want to collect more from the employers, maybe because of their not-so-good performance and the investments are not doing well,” Deen said in a phone interview.
He is glad, though, that employees will no longer be made to suffer by contributing more, “which is good news, because employers are also concerned about the welfare of their workers.”
Deen, also vice president of the American-Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said it will not be wise to oppose the increase since it is minimal and SSS is already bent on implementing it. |
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