“This means that those receiving the basic P1,200 ($27) pension per month would receive P3,200 ($72) if this version of the bill is finally enacted. All the succeeding pension brackets would also have an increase of P2,000 ($45).
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares vowed last weekend that he would still push for an increase in the pension being provided by the Social Security System (SSS) even as House Bill 175, which he authored, had already passed the committee level. The committee-approved bill would mandate a P2,000 ($45) hike in pension payments across-the-board.
“This means that those receiving the basic P1,200 ($27) pension per month would receive P3,200 ($72) if this version of the bill is finally enacted. All the succeeding pension brackets would also have an increase of P2,000 ($45),” said Senior Deputy Minority Leader Colmenares.
Colmenares thanked Rep. Jesus Sacdalan, chairperson of the House Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization, for facilitating the passage of the bill. With Sacdalan, the progressive solon expressed hope that they could jointly push for the speedy approval of HB 175 before the June 11 break.
Although Rep. Colmenares finds the P2,000 pension hike “way below the P5,000 minimum pension” he originally proposed in HB 175, he described it as “a good start.”
Bayan Muna’s House Bill 175 places the minimum monthly pension for SSS members at P5,000 ($112.34). Today’s lowest pension in SSS is P1,200 ($27) per month.
Last year, after the concerned House committee agreed with Rep. Colmenares in a hearing that the pension is indeed too small, the SSS implemented a five percent across-the-board pension hike for its 1.9 million pensioners, which it began paying in August last year.
Colmenares expressed hope that Congress would pass HB 175 before it declares a recess. 
