(Eagle News) — Recognizing the effect of the pandemic on the economy, the Social Security System announced programs that would help both individual members and employers to settle long-past due payments for loans, as well as overdue contributions, without paying the penalties.
“Given the circumstances we are faced with today, we do not want to add burden to those who are already encountering hardships,” said SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora C. Ignacio said in a media briefing.
The condonation program will start this month of November.
-4 relief and restructuring programs opened this November-
Ther are four relief and restructuring programs for borrowers, collectively called the Pandemic Relief and Restructuring Program (PRRP). Two are for qualified employers, and another two for invidual paying members.
Under the Contribution Condonation Penalty Program, alslo called PRRP2, qualified employers can pay overdue SSS contributions since March 2020 when the pandemic began, either in full or by installment in a period of four to 24 months.
“Employers will be able to pay overdue SSS contributions free of penalties in full or installment for a period of four to 24 months depending on the total amount of delinquency,” Ignacio said.
These would also include household employers.
The other program for employers is the Enhanced Installment Payment Program, also called PRRP3. This allows qualified employers to pay their past due SSS employees contributions and compensation in installments from nine monthhs to 60 months depending on the amount of delinquency.
Employers should be able to prove that their businesses had been affected by the pandemic, or had been “affected financially by calamity, man-made disaster, economic crisis” among others.
The two other programs are for individually paying members.
These are the Housing Loan Restructuring and Penalty Condonation Program or PRRP 4, and Short-Term Member Loan Penalty Condonation Program or PRRP5, both of which will also be opened for applications this month.
The PRRP 4 will allow “qualified SSS housing loan borrowers, successors-in- interest and legal heirs” to “pay the outstanding principal, interest, insurance dues, and legal expenses of their housing loans in full within 90 days or pay in installments”.
This is “from the receipt of the notice of approval of the application or pay 50% within 90 days from the receipt of notice of approval and pay the remaining 50% in 12 equal monthly installments.”
This will be open for three months, starting this November 22 until February 21, 2022.
The PRRP5 will allow member-borrowers to pay “all due and demandable arrears composed of the outstanding principal and interest of a member-borrowers’ past due salary, calamity, and/or emergency loans as well loans under the salary loan early renewal program and restructured loans under the Loan Restructuring programs.” All these arrears and loans “will be consolidated.”
Applications for PRRP5 will start to be accepted on Nov. 15 until Feb. 14, 2022.
SSS said that the total unpaid delinquencies this pandemic were around P55 billion by employers and employees in the private sector .
SSS senior vice president Mario Sibucao said that 20 percent of this amount are penalties that would be covered by the SSS condonation program.
“Total amount of delinquencies is about PHP55 billion and at least 20 percent of that PHP55 billion are penalties to be condoned,” Sibucao said in a virtual briefing.
The SSS said it expects applications from around 700,000 qualified employers.
On the other hand, the housing loan penalty condonation and restructuring program targets almost 2,000 borrowers, with around P2 billion in penalties to be condoned.
(Eagle News Service)