By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – Fourteen employers have been issued violation notices by the Social Security System (SSS) to settle their delinquency amounting to P16.9 million which affected a total of 1,245 workers here.
Dr. Lilani Benedian, vice-president for SSS Visayas West 1 Division, said that SSS-Bacolod branch and SSS-Bacolod East conducted their Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE) operations on May 2 and 3, in relation to the Labor Day on May 1.
Benedian, during the media briefing at the SSS Annex building along Lacson Streets last Thursday, said that they have joined the simultaneous nationwide RACE operations on April 30 at SSS branches in the cities of Bais and Dumaguete in Negros Oriental.
For Bacolod, Benedian said that they visited seven employers each under the SSS-Bacolod branch on Thursday, and SSS-Bacolod east yesterday. This is the sixth RACE operation here in the past four months, she added.
For the SSS-Bacolod branch, Benedian said that 485 employees were affected, with P7.9 million delinquency, while 760 workers, with P9 million delinquency were reported under the SSS-Bacolod east.
Benedian said that employers were mostly from the sugarcane industry, while others were construction, hotels, wholesale establishments and corporations. Three of which were large employers, she added.
The SSS-Bacolod branch covers 54 barangays in the city, and the cities of Talisay and Silay in the northern part of Negros Occidental, while the east branch covers nine barangays here, and the areas of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto (DSB) in the province.
Benedian said the main SSS office regularly sends them a list of delinquent employers, and the SSS branches will verify the accounts before proceeding with the RACE operations.
Benedian noted that they are conducting RACE operations to instill in the minds of the employers that SSS is really serious in its mandate of giving social protection to the workers.
“We want the employees to see that indeed SSS is really working for them,” she said, adding that this is also a way of boosting their morale.
Benedian said they also want employers to have the impression from them that they are not their enemies, but their partners.
She said they want to reach out to the employers because they want to apprise them of their SSS records, so that they may know how would they settle their delinquency. “We want also to educate them of their responsibilities and obligations,” she added.
During RACE operations, she said that they would really like to talk to the employers as much as possible, but if they’re not around, any representative will do.
This is the time for us to be able to give them the idea of what SSS has in store in order for us to help them to settle their delinquencies, she added.
Benedian said that delinquent employers are those who have not remitted regularly, have not reported or registered their employees with SSS, and have other violations in relation to Republic Act 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018. “It’s not just delinquent in terms of the amount,” she added.
Benedian said that SSS could offer them an installment scheme to enable them to settle their delinquency, as they will be given an idea about the penalty condonation program, and other programs which could help them reduce the amount.
“Ayaw namin na sasabihin ng employers na magsasara na lang sila” (We don’t want employers to say they’re going to close), she said, adding that they are not harsh to them, as they consider them as partners.
She said that the main goal of the SSS is to ensure the collection because, through this, they would be able to provide benefits to the employees.
“They (employers) don’t have to wait to be visited by the RACE team because they know their obligations under the law,” she said, adding that payment will still resolve the case if it reaches the court.
