An elderly man with his companions walks past an SSS sign in Manila. President Aquino vetoes the SSS pension hike bill. (INQUIRER PHOTO)
President Benigno Aquino III has vetoed the proposed bill providing for an increase in the pension of Social Security System (SSS) members, Malacañang said yesterday.
“According to Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr., the President has informed Congress, through the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, that he has vetoed the enrolled House Bill No. 5842, which provides for a P2,000 across-the-board increase in the monthly pension of SSS pensioners and adjustment of the minimum monthly pension from P1,200 to P3,200, for members who have contributed the equivalent of 10 credited years of service (CYS), and from P2,400 to P4,000, for those with at least 20 CYS,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.
Quoting the President’s veto message, Coloma said, ‘the President said “…the P2,000 across-the-board pension increase with a corresponding adjustment of the minimum monthly pension will result in substantial negative income for the SSS. More specifically, the proposed pension increase of P2,000 per retiree, multiplied by the present number of more than two million pensioners, will result in a total payout of P56 billion annually.”
Aquino added that the passage of the bill would would force the SSS to use the Investment Reserve Fund (IRF) to fund the pension increase.