Jerome J. Precia Atty. Christian O.

Ocampo
Agrarian Reform and Social Legislation

PART I
COMPREHENSIVE PROPOSAL FOR THE AMMENDMENT OF SOME PROVISIONS
OF REPUBLIC ACT No. 11223 OTHERWISE KNOWN AS UNIVERSAL HEALTH
CARE ACT IN CONNECTION WITH RA 10606 or AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC
ACT NO. 7875, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE
ACT OF 1995” as amended

I. OVERVIEW

The Universal Health Care act of the Philippine was conceptualized from the
current law, RA 10606 or AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7875,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ACT OF 1995” as
amended, and was developed by the current administration of president Rodrigo R.
Duterte through the legislative branch of our government. This universal health care act
according to Department of Health Undersecretary Rolando Enrique Domingo in an
interview dated February 2019 on a television show will be substantialized through the
help of the Filipino people and will make use of the blended mode of funding. Tax
proceeds from Sin tax as well as incomes from Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office
and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, premium contribution of members,
annual appropriations of the Department of Health (DOH), and government subsidy to
PhilHealth are usually the chief source of funding.

In its guiding principles, the law reiterates a Philippine constitutional provision

which contains the targeting provision for PhilHealth:

“…the State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health

development which shall ndeavour to make essential goods, health and other social
services available to all the people at affordable cost. Priority for the needs of the

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underprivileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women, and children shall be recognized.
Likewise, it shall be the policy of the State to provide free medical care to paupers.”

Before the passage of this law, Philippine has limited technical capacity in
identifying the poor. Identification depends on a means test, which tries to classify
families based on proxy indicators for family income. The information system is not
developed enough to document family income. PhilHealth attempts at identifying the
poor families for their Sponsored programs depended on the LGUs identifying the poor.

 Filipinos will now benefiting from this law, the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act,
this year 2020, thus providing equitable access to quality and affordable health goods,
services and protection against financial risks.
Aside from the automatic enrollment of all Filipinos to PhilHealth, other significant
reforms that will be implemented over time include: designating PhilHealth as the
national purchaser for health goods and services for individuals, such as medicines;
improvement of health facilities especially in underserved areas; responding to the gap
in health workers throughout the country; strategic engagement of the private sector;
and creating and expanding new functions in the Department of Health (DOH) to
improve the delivery of health services, according to an official statement by the DOH.

Universal health care according to Department of health is the system that

provides quality medical services to all citizens. The Philippine government offers it to
everyone regardless of their ability to pay. The sheer cost of providing quality health
care makes universal health care a large expense of government.

On the recent post stated in the official page of the Department of health, the
department pronounces that in order to attain Universal health care goals, three
strategic thrusts are to be pursued, namely: 1) Financial risk protection through
expansion in enrolment and benefit delivery of the National Health Insurance Program;
2) Improved access to quality hospitals and health care facilities; and 3) Attainment of
health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

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 Financial Risk Protection or protection from the financial impacts of health care is
attained by making any Filipino eligible to enroll, to know their entitlements and
responsibilities, to avail of health services, and to be reimbursed by PhilHealth with
regard to health care expenditures.

PhilHealth operations are to be redirected towards enhancing national and

regional health insurance system. The National health insurance program enrollment
shall be rapidly expanded to improve population coverage. The availment of outpatient
and inpatient services shall be intensively promoted. Moreover, the use of information
technology shall be maximized to speed up PhilHealth claims processing.

Improved Access to Quality Hospitals and Health Care Facilities on the other
shall be achieved in a number of creative approaches. First, the quality of government-
owned and operated hospitals and health facilities is to be upgraded to accommodate
larger capacity, to attend to all types of emergencies, and to handle non-communicable
diseases. The Health Facility Enhancement Program shall provide funds to improve
facility preparedness for trauma and other emergencies. Financial efforts shall be
provided to allow immediate rehabilitation and construction of critical health facilities. In
addition to that, treatment packs for hypertension and diabetes shall be obtained and
distributed to RHUs.

The DOH licensure and PhilHealth accreditation for hospitals and health facilities
shall be streamlined and unified.

Finally, in the Attainment of Health-related Millennium Development Goals,

further efforts and additional resources are to be applied on public health programs to
reduce maternal and child mortality, morbidity and mortality from Tuberculosis and
Malaria, and incidence of HIV/AIDS. Localities shall be prepared for the emerging
disease trends, as well as the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.

The organization of Community Health Teams in each priority population area is

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one way to achieve health-related Millennium Development Goals. Community Health
Teams are groups of volunteers, who will assist families with their health needs, provide
health information, and facilitate communication with other health providers.

II. PROBLEM AREAS

Although generally, the aim of this law is for the welfare of everyone,
nevertheless, we cannot deny that there are instances that some of our Filipino citizens
will be adversely affected by this law especially our workers here and abroad.

Every employee and his employer contribute to a fund administered by Philippine

Health Insurance Corp. It pays for the care of the sick, including those who cannot
afford medical care. According to PhilHealth, 21 million enrollees are indigents.

Research shows according to an article published in daily inquirer that several

factors must be in place to achieve the goal of this law, including: a strong, efficient,
well-run health system that meets priority health needs; a system for financing health
services to prevent people from falling into bankruptcy; access to essential medicines
and technologies; and a sufficient number of well-trained, motivated health workers to
provide the services.

One of the possible remedy of the government in implementing this law is by

increasing the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation premium contribution of
overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Under a PhilHealth circular dated April 2, 2020
OFWs with monthly income of P10,000 to P60,000 are to pay 3 percent of their salary,
from a previous rate of 2.75 percent.

However, In the petitioned to repeal PhilHealth’s move, signed by approximately

300,000 OFW, one of the statement found therein states that ““I believe that we, OFWs,
and our dependents have been already struggling amidst this pandemic and yet

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Philhealth had issued a very unfair memo regarding premium payments.”
According to the OFWs’ petition, the proposed increase is very unfair and inhumane.
In addition the petition also stated that “It is very unfortunate that they call OFWs
modern heroes and yet they penalize us with such directives. We urge the Philippine
Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) to reverse this directive as this is unfair and
an abuse to our migrant workers.”

Moreover, research published in an online page found out that the poor state of
the population of health professionals in the country is another concern the Universal
Health Care law intends to address. With the Philippines being a major exporter of
health-care professionals, it constantly grapples with a shortage of health providers,
inevitably leading to poor quality of healthcare and high-stress levels among health
professionals.

The number of health workers in the country is not keeping up with the country’s
population growth. According to the DOH, the nationwide ratio of human resource for
health, which includes doctors, nurses, and midwives, is at 19.70 per 10,000
populations. This is still below the 23 per 10,000 population critical threshold
recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Member countries of WHO, however, may opt to follow or not such

recommendations. The Philippines’ DOH, for example, follows ratios published in the
National Objectives for Health 2017-2022.

The country also suffers from a disparity in the distribution of health workers in
the country. For 2018, the National Capital Region and the Cordillera Administrative
Region had the most number of health workers at 23.06 and 28.17 per 10,000
population while the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao is a stark contrast at 6.86
per 10,000 population, according to DOH records.

For this reason, the Universal Health Care law ensures the development of the
health system’s human resources through the formulation and implementation of the

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National Health Human Resource Master Plan. It also ensures that all health
professionals have permanent employment and competitive salaries. Interestingly,
despite of these shortcomings, PhilHealth is still encountering left and right accusations
regarding alleged corruption. The firm itself is conducting an investigation on 20,000
cases involving P10.2 billion in 2019 to fraudulent transactions and schemes.

With a number of indigents enrolled in PhilHealth, moral hazard takes on greater

magnitude. This Faked hospital confinement, if proven, is equivalent to free meals and a
real bed for the indigent enrollees and revenue for the healthcare providers.

But even if you get rid of PhilHealth corrupt officers and staff, there would still be
tremendous wastage of funds due to incompetence and inefficiency on the part of the
officers and staff. The operating system required by universal health care is too
enormous and complex for PhilHealth to run as it does not have the competent and
experienced people to operate such a system.

III. Proposed Amendments

A. SECTION 9

Current Provision:

Section 9. Entitlement to Benefits. (Paragraph 2)

PhilHealth shall provide additional Program benefits for direct contributors, where
applicable: Provided, That failure to pay premiums shall not prevent the enjoyment of
any Program benefits: Provided, further, That employers and self-employed direct
contributors shall be required to pay all missed contributions with an interest,
compounded monthly, of at least three percent (3%) for employers and not exceeding

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one and one-half percent (1.5%) for self-earning, professional practitioners, and
migrant workers.

Proposed Amendment:

Section 9. Entitlement to Benefits. (Paragraph 2)

PhilHealth shall provide additional Program benefits for direct contributors, where
applicable: Provided, That failure to pay premiums shall not prevent the enjoyment of
any Program benefits: Provided, further, That employers and self-employed direct
contributors shall be required to pay all missed contributions with an interest,
compounded monthly, of at least three percent (3%) for employers and not exceeding
one and one-half percent (1.5%) for self-earning, professional practitioners, and all
employed workers with total monthly income not less than 40,000 PHP.

As mentioned in the subsequent discussion, migrant workers will indeed be

adversely affected by this law. Nonetheless, having a good health financing system
raises adequate funds for health like what the law introduced, provided that it will be
utilized wisely in ways that ensure people can use needed services, and are protected
from financial catastrophe or impoverishment.

However, the provision of section 9 in its present form will cause trouble to
migrant workers like what they stated in their appeal cited above, as “very unfair and
inhumane” because only self-earning, professional practitioners and migrant members
who fail to pay the premium in time shall be required to pay all missed contributions with
monthly compound interest.

Thus in the proposed amendment, such distinction will be avoided. The rationale
for this proposed amendment comes from the famous slogan “Those who have less in
life should have more in law” of our late president Ramon Magsaysay.

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 A win-win situation can be achieved by the government and by the people if this
proposal will be applied. Those overseas Filipino workers are indeed heroes of our
nation. Their community is an important sector of the Philippines not only because of
their economic contribution through remittances but also through their participation in
national issues. Thus, By removing migrant workers without qualifications on the list of
those required to pay all missed contributions with an interest and by changing it into all
employed workers with total monthly income not less than 40,000 PHP, the unfair
distinction will be eliminated. Only those who earn higher will now be affected which is
just and fair, compared on the old provision which requires migrant workers, no matter
how great or small their income was.

On the part of the government who collects money to fund the Philhealth, target
collection might be attained, although not all overseas Filipino workers are covered by
this requirement, nonetheless, this requirement will be expanded to all workers provided
they are covered by proposed limit.

A research published on the website called salaryexplore.com, shows that atleast

50 percent of the Filipino workers has a ceiling income of 40, 000 PHP.

Average
monthly Salary of Filipino Workers in the Philippines

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 By analysing the data presented, we can therefore conclude that attainment of
the target budget is feasible with this proposed amendment. Moreover, only average
monthly salary income of Filipino workers working in the Philippines is included in the
table. Overseas Filipino workers with the same salary requirement are not yet covered
in the said research. Imagine how the government can collect such amount if all
employed workers with total monthly income not less than 40,000 PHP are combined
together to materialize this specific provision.

B. SECTION 38

Current Provision:

Section 38. Penal Provisions. – Any violation of the provisions of this Act, after due
notice and hearing, shall suffer the corresponding penalties as herein provided:

€ Any director, officer or employee of PhilHealth who:

(1) Without prior authority or contrary to the provisions of this Act or its
IRR, wrongfully receives or keeps funds or property payable or deliverable
to the PhilHealth, and who appropriates and applies such fund or property
for personal use, or shall willingly or negligently consents either expressly
or implicitly to the misappropriation of funds or property without objecting
to the same and promptly reporting the matter to proper authority, shall be
liable for misappropriation of funds under this Act and shall be punished
with a fine equivalent to triple the amount misappropriated per count
and suspension for three (3) months without pay.

(2) Commits an unethical act, abuse of authority, or performs a fraudulent

act shall be punished by a fine of Two hundred thousand pesos
(₱200,000.00) or suspension for three (3) months without pay, or
both, at the discretion of PhilHealth, taking into consideration the
gravity of the offense. The same shall also constitute a criminal
violation punishable by imprisonment for six (6) months and one (1)
day up to six (6) years, upon discretion of the court without prejudice
to criminal liability defined under the Revised Penal Code.

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Proposed Amendment:

Section 38. Penal Provisions. – Any violation of the provisions of this Act, after due
notice and hearing, shall suffer the corresponding penalties as herein provided:

€ Any director, officer or employee of PhilHealth who:

(1) Without prior authority or contrary to the provisions of this Act or its
IRR, wrongfully receives or keeps funds or property payable or deliverable
to the PhilHealth, and who appropriates and applies such fund or property
for personal use, or shall willingly or negligently consents either expressly
or implicitly to the misappropriation of funds or property without objecting
to the same and promptly reporting the matter to proper authority, shall be
liable for misappropriation of funds under this Act and shall be punished
with a fine equivalent to triple the amount misappropriated per count
and permanent suspension of service.

(2) Commits an unethical act, abuse of authority, or performs a fraudulent

act shall be punished by a fine of Five hundred thousand pesos
(₱500,000.00) to Two million pesos (₱2,000,000.00) or permanent
suspension, or both, at the discretion of the court, taking into
consideration the gravity of the offense. The same shall also constitute
a criminal violation punishable by imprisonment for six (6) months
and one (1) day up to six (6) years, upon discretion of the court
without prejudice to criminal liability defined under the Revised Penal
Code.

Excerpt from the GMA news online page dated on October 16, 2020, the
Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) on Friday gave a summary of the
alleged anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

PACC Chairperson Dante Jimenez said the allegations being looked into by the
commission included ghost patients, fake receipts, admission beyond bed capacity,
“upcasing” of claims, fake members, and laxity in premium collection.

He also said that they received information in March last year that PhilHealth lost
P153.7 billion in five years (2013 to 2019) due to failed policies, fraud and other
anomalies.

“As can be gleaned from the Senate investigations, it appears that corruption has
been systemic from top to the bottom of the PhilHealth leadership and management,”
Jimenez said in an online briefing.

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 Moreover, in an online article of rappler.com, it was published that part of what
makes it difficult to spot the irregularities is the complexity of PhilHealth itself: 6,000
employees in 130 offices nationwide transacting 35,000 claims every day with 8,500
hospitals and 40,000 healthcare professionals, according to Ricardo Morales, the
embattled PhilHealth president and CEO who resigned on August 26.

Morales never denied there is fraud going on in PhilHealth. Citing a 2019 study,
he said the government-owned corporation loses an average of 7.5% of its funds to
fraud every year. In 2019, that 7.5% was equivalent to P10 billion.

Fraud is inherent to any national health system, even in developed countries,

Morales said. Unscrupulous benefit claimants are bound to try to get more than their
rightful share. In the case of the Philippines, they would be hospitals and clinics who
cover the cost of PhilHealth members’ consultations and treatments in advance, and
only reimburse them after their services had been rendered.

Thus, by implementing the proposed amendment rather than the current

provision, a stricter penalties will be imposed to lessen the corrupt practices inside the
Philhealth.

In the study conducted by Linköping University Department of Management and

Engineering in Sweden. Researcher concludes that Increases in the severity of
punishment is inclining with the probability of arrest. Researcher states that increases in
punishments have a greater effect on crime, if and only if individuals are risk-seekers.
The complementary finding of Khadjavi (2018) suggests that less than 20 percent of
criminals show signs of risk-seeking behaviour. If the findings of Khadjavi are correct, a
majority of individuals in society have risk-averse or risk-neutral preferences, and the
assumptions of researcher need to be seen in the light of this. Thus, we find it possible
that an increase in punishment could be as effective for crime reduction, as a policy that
affects certainty of arrest.

Therefore, there is a need for the introduction and implementation of new provision
in the law that imposes a greater penalty for those violators who prejudice the interest of
the people, because presently the Universal Health Care Act is too lenient. The
continuous rate of corrupt practices in Philhealth as mentioned on the previous discussion
makes a case that the Universal Health Care Act too lenient and makes a call for stricter
laws.

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 IV. References

(https://opinion.inquirer.net/133852/philhealth-unequipped-for-universal-health-care)

https://www.doh.gov.ph/kalusugang-pangkalahatan

(https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/307279/286k-ofws-sign-petition-against-3-
mandatory-philhealth-premium)

(https://www.neda.gov.ph/explainer-universal-health-care-law-and-what-it-means-to-ph-
development/)

(https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1316738/philhealth-investigating-20k-fraud-cases-
chief-tells-senate)

https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/cheat-sheet-alleged-philhealth-anomalies-
uncovered-congress-probes

https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1351327/FULLTEXT01.pdf

file:///C:/Users/Admin/Desktop/FeasibilitystudyPhil_FINAL-1.pdf

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Jerome J. Precia Atty. Christian O. Ocampo
Agrarian Reform and Social Legislation

PART II
COMPREHENSIVE PROPOSAL FOR THE AMMENDMENT OF SOME PROVISIONS
OF REPUBLIC ACT No. 11191 otherwise known as the "Social Security Act of
2018”

V. OVERVIEW

The Philippine Social Security System (SSS) is a pension fund for private sector
workers that are guided by its mandate of developing, promoting and perfecting a sound
and viable tax-exempt social security system, which shall promote social justice and
provide meaningful protection to members and their beneficiaries against the hazards of
disability, sickness, maternity, old age and death etc.

The Government recognizes that while economic growth remains fundamental to

reducing poverty, improved social service delivery and better targeted public
expenditure through modern social protection systems are also essential to counter
income and no income poverty. Hence, the Government has undertaken several steps
to improve social service delivery.

The major social protection institutions of the country consist of seven

institutions, namely: (a) the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), (b) the
Social Security System (SSS), (c) the Employee’s Compensation Commission (ECC),
(d) the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) or PhilHealth, (e) the Home
Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) or Pag-IBIG, (f) the Armed Forces of the Philippines
Retirement and Benefit System (AFP-RSBS) and (g) the Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration (OWWA). Not mentioned here are the line departments that operate
social assistance programs and private sector providers of social security schemes.

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 The state-run pension fund provides social security protection under the Social
Security Act of 2018 or the SSS Law to workers in the private sector through two
programs it administer: the Social Security program, which offers a safety net of partial
income replacement for members whose earning capacity have been lost or greatly
reduced due to certain contingencies; and the Employees’ Compensation program,
which provides compensation for workers whose injury, illness, death or disability
occurs during work-related activities.

The SSS is affiliated with other social security organizations inside and outside
the country. These include: The Philippine Social Security Association (PhilSSA);
ASEAN Social Security Association (ASSA); and the International Social Security
Association (ISSA).

The SSS basically derives its funds from member’s contributions and investment
earnings. Such portion of the contributions that are not needed for benefit
disbursements go to a Reserve Fund, which is intended to cover future liabilities in
benefit payments of the SSS to its over 30 million members to date. Due to increasing
number of members, the SSS has established 275 local and 21 foreign branches, to
bring SSS closer to members.

The enactment of the Social Security Act provides an opportunity to undertake a

comprehensive reform of the existing system. The law is set to implement viable,
efficient, and transparent securities that serve the needs of all Filipinos. The scope of
the law covers seven social security programs, namely:  Retirement Benefits., Death
Benefits, Permanent Disability Benefits, Funeral Benefit, Sickness Benefit, Maternity
Leave Benefit, and Unemployment Insurance or Involuntary Separation Benefits

The law was a major legislative achievement and provided the basic framework
in the development of a social security system in Philippines. As an umbrella law, it
does not provide transition measures from the existing segmented schemes to the
ultimate system, thus a number of substantial issues remain to be resolved

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 VI. PROBLEM AREAS

Just like the Universal Healthcare act, challenges, issues, and short comings are
inevitable due to some current provisions of the law which are ineffectual, so to speak. It
is undeniable that the very purpose of the Social Security Act and other social
legislations is for the welfare of everyone as well as to promote social justice as
mandated by our constitution itself, nevertheless, most of these programs come far and
few between, and although many are targeted at the poor, they are not efficiently run
and the benefits are prone to middle class capture. Formal social insurance is
increasingly becoming unsustainable, in part because of badly managed investments,
corruption, and payroll tax collection problems. Studies also suggest an inequitable
setup, with poorer members subsidizing the better off. The difficulties facing social
protection are compounded by weaknesses in the bargaining power of workers.
Organized labor is now only 10% of the work force and labor unions have diminishing
leverage in the workplace.

As cited in the research conducted by Aniceto Orbeta, even if the system

expanded statutory coverage to own-account, overseas, domestic workers, and even
housewives. The lack of coverage of informal sector workers persists. There is a
continuing threat to sustainability because contributions and benefits are not strongly
linked, particularly for the SSS. The funds are also subjected to continuous political
pressure to finance social programs that are of doubtful return and which may not be in
line with the long-term nature of the fund`s obligations. There is also a need to
continuously improve the investment earnings of the reserve funds. This may include
terminating programs which are unlikely to meet the earning requirements for actuarial
viability. Finally, there is a need to examine the increasing operating costs, considering
that these are among the highest in the region.

Moreover, there are lots of negative comments are being thrown to the
government due to the negative effects that they have experienced with the newly
passed law of the social security act. One of the comment from a migrant worker on an

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internet blog stated that although Migrant workers are not totally against SSS benefits
nonetheless, the mandatory contribution at the time of enrollment of the member is not
acceptable to the worker. To ask the worker to give the initial contribution when the
worker is just starting to work is not fair to the workers. They still have to earn one
centavo when they are deployed abroad and the workers do not have the funds to pay
the initial contribution when they are processed at the POEA.

Most of the institutions have problems with delivering benefits on time. For
instance, the delay in enjoying the benefits offered by the Social Security Act which is
valid because as provided in the general rule, no retroactive payment of contributions
shall be allowed. Like collection of contributions, efficiency in the delivery of benefits is
also a function of the volume of transactions. Most of the institutions have already
utilized the banking system to deliver benefits. SSS, for instance, in its latest report
claims that 98.4% of the monthly pensions, catering to 1.3 million pensioners, are
delivered through the banking system and only 1.6% are through mailed checks. GSIS
for its part uses its own e-Card co-issued with a commercial bank where benefits are
credited. The e-Card can be used in the 6,000 Automatic Telling Machines (ATMs)
nationwide. PhilHealth pays claims made through accredited health facilities. Since
HDMF and OWWA do not make regular monthly payments like pensions, delivery of
benefits is done through their offices.

In the feasibility study conducted by Coalition of Services of the Elderly about

the universal social pension in the Philippines. The high levels of informal employment
in the Philippines create major challenges for extending the coverage of contributory
pensions. While there is no simple method to measure the scale of informal
employment, the large majority of workers in the Philippines are in informal work.
Serrano et al, for example, find that 70 per cent of those employed were either in the
informal sector (39 per cent) or were non-regular workers (31 per cent). The World
Bank, using a slightly different definition, estimates a slightly higher figure of 75 per cent
of Filipino workers informally employed. Informality creates major challenges for
contributory pension systems. Informal workers tend to have irregular and unpredictable

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incomes which limit the extent to which they can regularly contribute to a pension. The
lack of a formal employer means they are not automatically enrolled into schemes, while
also meaning they cannot count on an employer’s co-contribution to a pension. The
result is that, in the case of the SSS, the full 11 per cent contribution must be taken on
by the individual. Informality is compounded by high levels of poverty and insecurity.
Many of those working in informal employment also receive very low wages and live
close to or below the poverty line, which is illustrated by the discussion in Section 1
above. In reality, most Filipino workers earn low, irregular and unpredictable incomes
within the informal sector, which have to be divided between a number of family needs.
These include basic costs such as food, bills and transport, as well as costs for children
(such as education) and care for more vulnerable family members (such as older people
and people with disabilities). A particularly important factor, which echoes discussion
earlier in the report, is that many younger workers see investment in children as their
best bet in terms of preparing for old age. Even in families where incomes are sufficient
to meet all these needs, there may well not be enough left over for a meaningful
pension contribution. Indeed, pension contributions will commonly not be the biggest
priority for families struggling to make ends meet. This issue emerged in qualitative
discussions with younger people as part of this study.

VII. Proposed Amendments

A. SECTION 22-A

Current Provision:

Section 22-A. Remittance of Contributions of Self-Employed Member. - Self-employed

members shall remit their monthly contributions quarterly on such dates and schedules
as the Commission may specify through rules and regulations: Provided, That no
retroactive payment of contributions shall be allowed, except as provided in this
Section.

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Proposed Amendment:

Section 22-A. Remittance of Contributions of Self-Employed Member. - Self-employed

members shall remit their monthly contributions quarterly on such dates and schedules
as the Commission may specify through rules and regulations: Provided, That no
retroactive payment of contributions shall be allowed, except for the immediate
preceding unpaid quarter which can only be availed once a year and as provided
in this Section.

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted our everyday lives. It has
restricted our movements and daily routine like going to work and traveling like we
usually do. Most of us, including our employers and SSS members, are currently
confined in the corners of our homes after the national government imposed enhanced
community quarantine in different parts of the country to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines’ (ECOP) initiated a webinar to help

employers and employees alike in the midst of the current coronavirus pandemic, time
with the Social Security System (SSS) entitled “SSS Services and Assistance in the
Time of a Public Health Emergency” last 3 April hosted by Mr. Jose Roland Moya,
Director-General of ECOP, and Mr. Jhomer Gonzales as the resource speaker from the
SSS.

On its topic, the speaker connotes that it is very important to note that during this
time of crisis, the SSS has put in place specific programs/policies such as the Calamity
Loan Assistance Program (CLAP), Loan Restructuring Program, moratorium period,
Contribution Penalty Condonation Program, payment deadlines, unemployment benefits
and other contingencies that may arise under the jurisdiction of the Social Security
System.

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 To provide an understanding regarding the response of employers to the Enhanced
Community Quarantine, a survey through the use of Mentimeter was conducted for the
following:

1. What is the profile of our participants in this webinar? (Out of 698 respondents:
4% Employer/Business Owners; 85% Human Resource Personnel; 10%
Currently employed)
2. Are you an SSS member? (Out of 730 respondents: 99% Yes; 1% No)
3. What is the current status of your company? (Out of 784 respondents: 15% Total
shutdown/stop operations; 41% slowdown of operations/on skeletal workforce;
3% business as usual/normal operations; 41% everyone on WFH arrangement)

Due to the said Pandemic, many employers as well as self-employed individual

are restrained from remitting their contribution to the SSS or experiencing difficulty in
paying their SSS contributions, considering that enhanced community quarantine has
imposed limits on our ability to move freely and easily. Moreover, most of the over-the-
counter payment facilities are either limited or have stopped operations. Although the
institution already took an action to resolve such issue by extending deadlines of
remittance. Nevertheless, the same can only resolve the problem in a short time.
Apparently, many Filipino self-employed are having difficulties in applying for loans or in
claiming their benefits on time due to their failure to remit their contribution to the social
security system on time for a various reasons. The very reason for this delay of benefit
is the provision of the law about non-retroactive effect of the payment of contribution.

We can infer at the first glance that the rationale of this law has a valid and noble
purpose and that is to secure that the collected contribution from the members will be
circulated to the general market and to generate revenues. Moreover, Pensions can
support economic development by helping households to invest in their livelihoods.
Increasing household income not only boosts consumption (e.g. on food, healthcare
and education), it can also support investments. However, such law somehow has an
adverse effect against the contributors especially when they usually forgot to remit their
contribution or when they are unable to remit it due to other valid and acceptable reason
like what has been stated on the above discussion.

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 Thus, by applying the proposed amendment, there will be a remedy for the
members who either forgot or unable to remit contribution on time for some other
reasons that will not adversely affects the generated income of SSS since the said
allowed retroactive payment can only be made once a year and can only be applied to
the preceding month or quarter by which the member are not able to pay. Moreover, the
allowed retroactive payment will cover up to few months’ worth of benefits. Besides,
every situation of the members of SSS is different and must be considered by itself. If
we take the proposed retroactive payment, both government and the people will benefit.
Government will benefit in such a way that they can still collect remittance from the
members after their failure to remit of specific month thus generating fund which will be
used to generate more income by investing it to other purpose.

B. SECTION 28

Current Provision:

Section 28. Penal Clause

(g) Any employee of the SSS who receives or keeps funds or property belonging,
payable or deliverable to the SSS and who shall appropriate the same, or shall take or
misappropriate, or shall consent, or through abandonment or negligence, shall permit
any other person to take such property or funds, wholly or partially, or shall otherwise be
guilty of misappropriation of such funds or property, shall suffer the penalties provided in
Article Two hundred seventeen of the Revised Penal Code.

Proposed Amendment:

Section 28. Penal Clause

(g) Any employee of the SSS who receives or keeps funds or property belonging,
payable or deliverable to the SSS and who shall appropriate the same, or shall take or
misappropriate, or shall consent, or through abandonment or negligence, shall permit
any other person to take such property or funds, wholly or partially, or shall otherwise be
guilty of misappropriation of such funds or property, shall be punished by a fine of Five

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hundred thousand pesos (₱500,000.00) to Two million pesos (₱2,000,000.00) or
permanent suspension, or both, at the discretion of the court and shall suffer the
penalties provided in Article Two hundred seventeen of the Revised Penal Code.

Just like on the previous discussion on the first part of this proposal about
Universal Health Care Act, the Social Security System is no different. There are left and
right anomalies are being flagged by the authorities within the said institution because of
the huge amount of fund which are collected from the blood, sweat, and tears of our
Filipino countrymen. Over the years, however, the country is able to display its
consistent effort to fight corruption using the legislative measures and prevention
programmes that go hand-in-hand with aggressive investigation and prosecution of
public offenders, and the continuous promotion of integrity work. It has secured venues
to seek redress. Given all the foregoing, it can be surmised that there is a growing trend
of corruption activities and allegations being perpetrated by those in the different sectors
of Government including those owned and controlled corporation of government like the
SSS. It may not come as much of a surprise since it indeed takes a good amount of
power at your hands to be able to manipulate and orchestrate a web of convoluted
corrupt activities. If it can be done in the lower ranks, and there is a good chance that
this can be very well concealed and orchestrated by higher-ups, where the involved
amount should not go unrecognized.

The best way to counter corruption is to empower and strengthen the bodies that
advance anti-corruption measures. By means of reforming the law by adding claws on it
for its enforcement, the Philippines has a better chance of advancing integrity initiatives
in the public sector.

As discussed on the precious part. Increases in the severity of punishment are

inclining with the probability of arrest. Researcher states that increases in punishments
have a greater effect on crime, if and only if individuals are risk-seekers. The
complementary finding of Khadjavi (2018) suggests that less than 20 percent of
criminals show signs of risk-seeking behaviour. If the findings of Khadjavi are correct, a

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majority of individuals in society have risk-averse or risk-neutral preferences, and the
assumptions of researcher need to be seen in the light of this. Thus, we find it possible
that an increase in punishment could be as effective for crime reduction, as a policy that
affects certainty of arrest. Additionally. Having a stricter law can be a solution to
balanced ins and outs of fund that the institution receives. Actually, lack of fund is not a
problem if corruption can be resolved.

Now, by the proposed revision of the law by adding a reasonable fine which can
be collected from the estate of the accused, corruption might be avoided since the fear
of the employees of the SSS are being instilled on them and they themselves can stay
away from the temptation of stealing the public fund.

VIII. References

https://socialprotection-humanrights.org/key-issues/social-protection-systems/
https://www.jobstreet.com.ph/en/companies
https://pana.com.ph/directories/social-security-system/
https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2019/ra_11199_2019.html
https://ecop.org.ph/highlights-of-the-webinar-sss-services-and-assistance-in-the-
time-of-a-public-health-emergency/
https://www.unafei.or.jp/publications/pdf/GG12/21_GG12_CP_Philippines.pdf
Feasibility of Universal Social Protection Published by Coalition of Services of the
Elderly

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