Six years from now, the standards that we used to measure the performance of PNoy’s administration would also be applied to President Digong’s team.
In the case of the Social Security System, most of these standards are already summarized in its monthly Facts and Figures Report, which it publishes in its website. Soon, this report will show the final statistics describing its program at the end of PNoy’s administration, and from which President Digong’s SSS would be compared six years later.
In it we can view its average monthly retirement pension, which, for us pensioners, is the key performance indicator that measures the effectiveness of SSS.
Its fund life is also an important detail of its operations, but its purpose is mainly to assure us of the financial sustainability of the pension program.
But as of today or seven days before the end of June, SSS has only released the November 2015 value of its AMRP: P3,615.
Similarly, the KPI of the Government Service Insurance System is also its AMRP, not its concessionary loans to its members and pensioners. While it does not disclose its AMRP and fund life, its minimum pension of P5,000 is high enough to dwarf by comparison the SSS AMRP.
Neither pension agency has released its 2015 Annual Report as of today.
PNoy’s appointed bosses would only demonstrate their irresponsibility by not writing and releasing these reports by June 30. President Digong’s new appointees would surely not cherish writing them the way President Cory’s appointees in February 1986 wrote blindly their predecessors’ 1985 accomplishment reports.
These agencies are not openly disclosing the values of their AMRP and fund life. But they are submitting them to the Department of Finance and the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations, which now supervise them.
We are sure that if the incoming administration wants, it could easily disclose publicly these pension details.
How much should the SSS AMRP be at the end of President Digong’s administration?
If that P2,000 across-the-board pension increase is immediately released, its AMRP would suddenly jump to P5,615. Also, if five 10-percent annual increases were to be granted annually henceforth, its AMRP would reach P9,043.01 six years from now.
Those who now receive P10,000 would have their pensions increased to P19,326.12, or by 93 percent.
Would that be enough? For some, maybe, but not for many who would be getting less than this amount, even if the AMRP were increased 150 percent or multiplied 2-1/2 times.
SSS could certainly not afford these increases, but it could implement them in phases by prioritizing pensioners according to their needs.
My friends Billy and Cristy have suggested that P2,000 could be given to those who are 80 years old and above, P1,500 to those aged 70 to 80 years old, and P1,000 to the rest. SSS could first improve the pensions of widows with young children or those who live alone.
But eventually, SSS would have to shore up its funding. And increasing the contribution rate and freeing the salary cap that is subject to deduction—not via taxes to subsidize the scheme—are the most appropriate ways of achieving this.
We could propose a number of innovative contribution and pension formulas, but they could always be challenged. After all, they are yet to be tested and proven.
But who would challenge the GSIS pension system? It has worked and has kept its members happy.
Therefore, why not adopt it for private sector workers? After all, they, too, should enjoy the same pension benefits of public sector retirees.
I have been conducting informal surveys among my private-sector friends about their willingness to pay the same pension contributions as their public sector counterparts, and their responses have been positive. I need only to explain briefly the GSIS contribution and pension formulas, and immediately they would agree to adopt them. They don’t require exaggerated assurances of higher pensions.
Jo, for instance, earns P100,000 a month and would have to contribute P9,000 while Ed, who makes P50,000, has to contribute P4,500. Compared to their present SSS contribution shares of P581.30 for each of them, these contributions are definitely much higher. Jo would increase 15.5 times his contributions, and Ed, eight times.
If their employers would match the contributions of public sector employers, they have to contribute P12,000 for Jo, and P6,000 for Ed. These amounts are also much higher to what they now contribute—P1,178.70 for each.
But consequently, my friends’ pensions would be P75,000 and P37,500, respectively. Beyond doubt, these are significantly much higher than the present maximum SSS pension of about P13,140.
These contribution and pension adjustments need not be done overnight. They could be implemented gradually over the next six years, or even in the next 20 years.
We have to start narrowing the very wide gap between the public and private sector pension amounts.
Who says that these are easy to implement? They could be even harder than solving our illegal drug, criminality, and traffic problems.
But as President Digong has said, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.”