(Photo from Punto Central Luzon)
MANILA — The Social Security System (SSS) has issued warnings to five private companies in Pasay City for allegedly failing to remit employees’ mandatory contributions, giving them 15 days to settle their outstanding obligations or risk criminal prosecution.
The five firms were ordered to pay a combined ₱3.19 million in unpaid contributions and accumulated penalties at the SSS Pasay-CCP Complex Branch.
The agency said it was extending leniency because the companies were committing their first recorded violations. However, the SSS stressed that failure to comply within the prescribed period could trigger criminal charges.
Records showed that the employers owed approximately ₱1.14 million in workers’ contributions and another ₱2.05 million in penalties for violations of Republic Act No. 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018.
The companies operate in management consultancy, restaurant, real estate, car wash, and gambling and betting businesses.
The restaurant firm accounted for the largest delinquency at ₱2.25 million, comprising ₱739,000 in unremitted contributions and ₱1.51 million in penalties. The amount involved deductions from the salaries of its 35 employees.
“Every employer is required by law to deduct and remit social security contributions on behalf of their employees. Failure to do so not only violates the law but also deprives workers of their rightful benefits,” the SSS said in its warning.
The violations were uncovered during a Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE) operation conducted on September 29, 2026.
Under the Social Security Act, employers must register their workers with the SSS and remit the corresponding monthly contributions. Violators face fines ranging from ₱5,000 to ₱20,000 and imprisonment of six years and one day to 12 years.
The SSS also reminded employers to maintain updated contribution records, warning that non-remittance could jeopardize workers’ eligibility for benefits and loan programs.
SSS Senior Vice President for the National Capital Region Operations Group Benjamin Dolindo Jr. cited sickness benefits as an example of how employees could suffer when employers fail to remit contributions.
A member hospitalized for 10 days because of an illness, he explained, could be disqualified from receiving sickness benefits if the required contribution conditions were not met.
The agency reiterated that employers’ failure to fulfill their obligations can leave workers without financial protection when illness or other contingencies strike. – Tracy Cabrera
ia/xf
