The President’s veto

The recent furor over the President’s veto over the legislated P2,000 increase in the Social Security System (SSS) pension should not have happened if our legislators were thinking of the common good instead of their smelling good during election time. Never mind the potential collapse of the pension fund in a few years as adding the P2,000 to the current retirees’ pension would have resulted in a projected deficit of P26 billion for this year alone, according to current SSS President Emilio de Quiros Jr. If implemented, SSS will not be able to provide the loans normally needed by many of the active members, according to former SSS President Cora de la Paz, who added that the increase would not allow the grant of housing, education, and maternity loans to some 33 million members, their spouses, children and other dependents. Surely, President Aquino (and the administration’s political party) would have [...]