Apply for easy install schemes, SSS tells delinquent members

RACE AGAINST TIME. Delinquent contributor members of the SSS can apply for installment payment schemes, by going to the Branch Office and meeting with the account executives. If notice of delinquency has been served, the erring establishment will only have 15 days to settle the account or apply for an installment plan, according to SSS Visayas Vice President Atty Alberto Montalbo, who stands beside Dauis Mayor Roman Bullen during a recent RACE Team courtesy call. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

BEFORE the Social Security System’s (SSS) Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE) team gets back in town, local authorities here urge erring businessmen and companies to settle, while easy installment programs are still available.

A few weeks ago, the SSS RACE Team from Cebu swooped on to business establishments in Bohol and delivered demand letters to 8 businessmen and establishments, some of them being done in front of clients and customers.

SSS Vice President for the Visayas Atty Alberto Montalbo, in the team’s recent visit to Bohol issued the advice, stressing that their compliance with the Social Security Law, assures members of their benefits, especially during the times when they need them.

Let’s not wait for the RACE Team to get to use, we know Boholanos are good citizens, it’s not a good idea to wait until somebody reminds us of our deficiencies, Atty Montalbo said.

Coming to Bohol to deliver 15-day ultimatum to 8 erring businesses and members, the RACE Team, accompanied by SSS legal Team led by Atty Marie Ann Chavez, skipped the visit to another 7 erring establishments in a food park in Dauis, for lack of material time.

But just the same, the ultimatum stands, SSS Bohol Branch Office head Engr. Alieta Basubas said.

We’re her in good faith, and as long as an establishment’s owner settles their differences with the SSS, they revert to be a member of good standing, the Vice President for the Visayas assured.

While the SSS has many relief programs which have already closed, there is still the Pandemic Relief Restructuring Program 3 (PRRP 3) which is still available, Atty Montalbo revealed.

Covered under the PRRP 3 are regular and household employers who are incapable of paying their deficiencies in full and have no other means to immediately settle their full obligations, especially those who have been delinquent for at least 6 consecutive or cumulative months   including penalties, those with late penalty payments, those awaiting for SSS installment payment scheme and those whose applications under PRRP 2 have been denied, as to the social security agency.

Employers intending to avail of the program can visit the Bohol SSS and submit to the Branch Office Accounts Department holding their accounts, their application for installment payments within 15 days upon receiving their notices of delinquency, their validated contribution payment of at least 5% of the total delinquency and other supporting documents.

Simply, those with delinquencies can visit the SSS Branch Office and talk to their account executives for whatever restructuring and installment program is available and at their convenience, Engr Basubas added. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)