Senator wants househelp registered with SSS

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III is pushing for the grant of a one-time amnesty on the payment of penalties for employers who have yet to enroll their household helpers with the Social Security System (SSS).

Pimentel lamented the low compliance to the provisions of Republic Act 10361 or the Batas Kasambahay, particularly on the registration of household helpers and their enrolment in the SSS.

He attributed this to the penalties imposed by the Social Security Law on employers who fail the remit the contributions of their employees.

“Due to this penalty provision in the Social Security Law, a significant number of kasambahay employers who wanted to comply with the registration requirements under the Batas Kasambahay were imposed huge unpaid SSS contribution penalties dating back to 1993, thus deterring them from continuing with the SSS registration of their kasambahays,” Pimentel said in his Senate Bill 1180.

Pimentel’s bill seeks to amend RA 10361 to include a provision on the grant of a one-time amnesty for delinquent employers of household helpers.

Under the bill, the concerned employers would be given up to three months from the effectivity of the implementing rules and regulations to settle all premium payments or contributions without incurring the penalties under the Social Security Law by remitting a one-time full payment of P5,000.

If the employers still fail to remit the one-time payment within the three-month period, all the penalties would be deemed re-imposed and will accrue until the delinquent accounts are paid in full. 

“This financial relief will hopefully jumpstart the long delayed compliance of the kasambahay employers to cover their househelpers with the SSS benefits,” Pimentel said.

There are an estimated two million household helpers employed in the country but the Department of Labor and Employment has noted that only a few are actually enrolled with the SSS, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Pag-Ibig Fund.