EDITORIAL

SSS implements year-long amnesty for short-term loans

Attention Social Security System members! The SSS has implemented a year-long amnesty for short-term loans starting May 1 to help ease the burden on Filipino workers coping with rising prices. SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Corazon de la Paz-Bernardo said the pension fund would condone penalties on loans of members who would avail of the amnesty, which is part of the non-wage benefits package offered to workers to mark Labor Day.

"This is an excellent opportunity for delinquent borrowers to settle their unpaid accounts at a huge discount," she said. "Under the amnesty, they would only pay the principal and interest, with their penalties written off by the SSS."

The SSS expects to collect P2.62 billion in principal and interest from about 620,000 delinquent short-term loan borrowers. The amnesty would end on April 30 next year. The amount of penalties to be condoned would be proportionate to the arrears, or the outstanding principal and interest, paid by the borrower. Payments may be partial or in full.

"If only half of the arrears are paid during the amnesty, then only half of the penalties would be condoned, while the balance would continue to accumulate penalties," De la Paz-Bernardo said. "This is why we urge borrowers to fully pay their delinquencies within the amnesty to enjoy 100 percent condonation of penalties."

The SSS has been granting salary loans to actively-paying members with at least 36 contribution payments. Previous loans granted to members include calamity, emergency, educational, study now-pay later, vocational/technical, Y2K, stock investment and privatization fund loans.

Some 721 delinquent members from 19 cooperatives which borrowed under the SSS Members' Assistance for the Development of Entrepreneurship (MADE) could also avail of the amnesty.

The MADE program, which ended in 1994, had released over P140 million to cooperatives, which in turn lent the funds to its members for livelihood activities. More than 540,000 delinquent borrowers benefited from five amnesty periods for SSS short-term loans, the last of which was from January to June 2007. The SSS also has an ongoing amnesty for housing loan borrowers.