President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the arrest and prosecution of employers who are failing to remit the contributions of members of the Social Security System (SSS) as he vowed to reform the private pension system under his administration, a senior cabinet official said Tuesday.
Quoting the President during Monday's cabinet meeting, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said, the President wanted reforms in the SSS to be implemented soon to fulfill his election promise.
Piñol said, the President made the instruction to "file charges and arrest them," after getting a briefing from by SSS Chairman Amado Valdez.
Valdez had told the President that only 40 percent of the 33 million SSS members were paying their premiums.
"I made the commitment during the campaign and after the elections that I will give the ageing SSS members additional pension for them to buy their medicines in their old age," Duterte had said.
The President also announced that there will be no more excessive bonuses for SSS officials, which was allowed by the past administrations.
Piñol added, Duterte is inclined to grant a two-tiered increase to soften the financial impact on the SSS.
The President is set to hold press briefing this afternoon to explain his position on the SSS pension hike proposal.