• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Social Security System (SSS) said May 22 it is poised to charge more than 650 delinquent employers for not remitting P257 million in workers’ contributions.
This as the SSS Mindanao North Legal Department filed criminal charges at the Prosecutor’s Office in Cagayan de Oro City against four business establishments for P15 million unremitted employees’ contributions and penalties, as a result of the nationwide Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE) campaigns.
SSS president and chief executive officer Rolando Ledesma Macasaet said that a restaurant business, a fire extinguisher’s retail-refilling supplier, a BPO service provider, and a car spare parts importer deprived their 140 employees of availing of SSS benefits or applying for loan programs because of their non-remittance of contributions.
“SSS previously visited the four employers during RACE operations to remind them to pay the contributions of their workers. However, they failed to settle their contribution delinquencies despite receiving violation notices,” Macasaet said in a statement.
He added that legal actions taken by SSS against delinquent employers only proved that the system is serious and determined to penalize business establishments that failed to deduct and remit the monthly contributions of their workers.
SSS vice president for Operations Legal Services Division and RACE team coordinator Renato Jacinto Cuisia said they beefed up the RACE campaigns around the country.
In Bacolod and Negros Occidental, 14 employers with total unpaid obligations of P16.9 million, were subjected to RACE first week this month, initiated by the SSS Visayas West 1 Division. The latest operation was the sixth for this year under the division.
Dr. Lilani Benedian, vice president for SSS Visayas West 1 Division, had said that once a business opens, it is the obligation of the employer to register the business with SSS, report and register all employees, and regularly remit or pay to the system the contribution collected from employees.
Benedian said an employee cannot avail of the SSS benefits if his or her contribution has not been remitted by the employer to SSS. These include maternity, sickness, retirement, disability, death, funeral, or unemployment assistance.
SSS earlier issued violation notices to more than 1,200 delinquent employers across the country in simultaneous RACE operations to remind them of the legal consequences of not remitting their employees’ contributions. | CGC
