Mar says SSS veto will have positive effect on his campaign

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the outcry over President Aquino’s veto on the bill seeking to hike the pension of the Social Security System (SSS), Liberal Party presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II believes that the chief executive’s decision would even have a positive effect on his candidacy.

Roxas is optimistic that most Filipinos understand the wisdom behind Aquino’s decision to reject the bill, which would have raised the pension of retirees by P2,000.

“Yes. Positively. You know, not all Filipinos are narrow-minded. In fact, most of them are broad minded,” Roxas said on Tuesday when asked if he thinks the veto would affect his candidacy.

“They do not want a repeat of what happened to (some) pre-need (companies). They paid premiums and when the needed the money, the companies went bankrupt. The same thing would happen if P-Noy did not do it right?” he added. 

Roxas said leaders should come up with sound decisions and this cannot be done if they always think of politics.

“I just want to make it very very clear that it’s the right decision,” the administration’s presidential candidate said.

Earlier, Aquino vetoed the bill that aims to hike the SSS monthly pensions by P2,000, saying the measure would affect the stability of the state-run pension fund.

He said the measure would shorten the life of the pension fund by 13 years.

Aquino claimed that the pension hike would only be beneficial to 2.15 million pensioners but would negatively affect 30 million others.

Critics have assailed Aquino for the veto, calling him “inconsiderate” and “heartless.”

Lawmakers, some of them candidates in the 2016 elections, have bared plans to override the veto, a move that would require a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Roxas postpones Nueva Ecija sortie 

Meanwhile, Roxas was forced to postpone his sortie in Nueva Ecija on Wednesday because of an illness.

An advisory forwarded by his media relations bureau said Roxas’s events in the province would be rescheduled for another date because he is nursing a fever. 

Roxas was supposed to be the guest of honor and keynote speaker during the assembly of Liberal Party mayors, candidates and barangay captains at the Muñoz Central School. He was also scheduled to speak before local leaders and supporters at the Talavera Municipal Gym and to visit allies in the towns of Aliaga and Guimba.