SENATOR Chiz Escudero recently drew flack from Senate President Frank Drilon for pushing for Congressional override of the President’s veto of the SSS pension hike bill. Escudero and other senators have prepared a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that this should be done immediately.
Drilon called the resolution as “politicking” since any attempt to override the Aquino’s veto must originate from the House of Representatives. Following this logic, the senators should and can do absolutely nothing even in the face of public outrage.
Drilon is splitting hairs. Escudero and his fellow senators know very well that the resolution has no force and effect but it’s purpose is to send a message to the lower chamber that they have the numbers in the Senate and to convince them to begin the override.
It is about time that Congress grew a spine and overturn the President. The power of Congress to override the veto is part of the checks and balances among the three branches of government to ensure that no one branch abuses its authority. In the same manner that the Supreme Court can overturn acts of the executive for being unconstitutional, Congress can do the same to the executive through an override.
Considering the vast powers of the President, a Congressional override is not a walk in the park. But that doesn’t mean that Congress should just give up.
As representatives of the people, they should act in the country’s best interest. For the sake of the million of seniors who deserve the pension hike, they should make a supreme attempt to make this happen.
When Congress passed the SSS pension hike bill with overwhelming support, they knew that the government can very well afford the increase despite the opposition of the SSS. First, improve the collection efficiency of the SSS that currently stands at a dismal 39%. The SSS has P325-billion in uncollected revenue; 2nd, reduce the high administration costs in the SSS which translates to more than 10% of all collections going to expenses, salaries, incentives and bonuses.
In fact, the SSS has been under fire lately for alleged excessive bonuses of its top management. 3rd, rent out the SSS idle assets worth over 17.956B that would raise another P198.118-million in additional income according to the COA; 4th, realign priorities for tax-collection. Instead of using our taxes to fund DAP/PDAF/Pork allocations, use the funds instead to improve social security for our people.
Fifth, a national budget allocation to infuse funds to the SSS can be considered as a temporary measure while government makes the necessary adjustments to improve the management of SSS. The law imposes on the government the responsibility for the solvency of the SSS. It can never go bankrupt because it has the sovereign backing of the state.
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Comments welcome at articulouno1898@gmail.com FRONTLINES OF POLITICS/JONATHAN MALAYA
