ON Thursday, January 14, 2016, a day before House Bill No. 5842, or the Social Security Act, would lapse into law, President Benigno S. Aquino III vetoed the measure seeking to increase Social Security System (SSS) pensions from P1,200 to P3,200 for those who have contributed the equivalent of 10 credited years of service, and from P2,400 to P4,000 for those who have made contributions for at least 20 years.
Naturally, no person was more disappointed than the SSS pensioners themselves, but the senators who were also hopeful that the increase would be granted were themselves saddened by the turn of events.
It might as well be called a “turn of events” because when the measure was passed by the Senate on November 9, 2014, the senators seemed very confident that it would get the nod of the president.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, upon the passage of the bill in November, said that its approval “is an early Christmas gift of the Senate to the SSS pensioners, who depend on these pensions for their daily expenses.”
Senator Cynthia Villar, principal sponsor of House Bill No. 5842 in the Senate, said, “given the rising cost of living, it is high time we give our retirees and their family a monthly pension that will allow them to at least live with dignity.”
The measure was approved by 15 senators. Only Senator Juan Ponce Enrile voted against the bill, stating, in the same manner as President Aquino explained in his veto message, that the grant of the increase would cause the “bankruptcy of the SSS.”
Now that the President has vetoed the bill, Senator and vice presidential candidate Francis “Chiz” Escudero said he was sad “because our SSS pensioners have waited long enough for this measure.”
Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., who was one of the authors of the Senate version of the measure, in a press statement lamented that the President has seemingly “chosen to look the other side, instead of being sensitive and looking at the realistic conditions of the pensioners who dedicated their active and healthy years to labor.”
Senate President Drilon however said he respected the President’s veto of the bill.
“It is within his prerogative as President to do so and this is part of the system of check and balance that is a critical component of our democracy,” he said in a press statement. BEEN THERE DONE THAT/JOSEPHINE JARON-CODILLA
