AT LEAST five business employers in Pasay City were given 15 days by the Social Security System (SSS) to settle contribution delinquencies amounting to P3.19 million or face criminal charges, its top official revealed on Tuesday.
SSS President and CEO Robert Joseph de Claro said the non-payment of members’ contributions by some firms in the city was discovered late last week by a RACE (Run After Contribution Evaders) operation.
The five erring employers accumulated P1.14 million in unpaid contributions and P2.05 million in penalties, all cited for non-remittance of monthly contributions under Republic Act 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018, de Claro said.
He said that among the violators, a restaurant establishment recorded the highest contribution delinquency at P2.25 million, broken down into over P739,000 in unpaid workers’ contributions and P1.51 million in penalties.
The SSS chief stressed that under RA 11199, employers must report on their employees to SSS and remit their corresponding monthly contributions.
He reiterated that the concerned employers who received the written notices were given 15 days to coordinate with their respective servicing SSS branch office and settle their contribution delinquencies.
“Should they fail to act, SSS will take legal action against erring employers by filing criminal cases against them for violating RA 11199,” the SSS chief executive warned.
The RACE campaign seeks to enforce compliance with employer obligations under the SSS Law to ensure social security coverage of members.
De Claro noted that delinquent employers operate across various business sectors, including management consultancy, restaurant, real estate, carwash, and gambling and betting activities.
He said the operation in Pasay formed part of a simultaneous RACE initiative in the National Capital Region (NCR), in which SSS served notices to 419 delinquent employers with contribution delinquencies amounting to more than P169 million.
SSS Senior Vice President for NCR Operations Group Benjamin Dolindo Jr. emphasized that employers must remit their workers’ contributions religiously to avoid depriving them of SSS benefits.
If contribution records are not updated, members will not be entitled to claim SSS benefits or apply for loan programs, Dolindo said.
“For example, an SSS member was hospitalized for 10 days due to an illness. Suppose their employer is not remitting the SSS contributions, and in that case, they will be unqualified to receive sickness benefits from SSS because one of the requirements of the said benefit is to have recency in contributions,” he explained.
