SSS open to probe by third party, Congress
The management of the Social Security System (SSS) yesterday welcomed pronouncements of legislators that they would investigate the pension fund and its executives who were involved in a stock trading controversy.
“The Social Security Commission (SSC), the policymaking body of the SSS, welcomes the investigations to be conducted by Congress and third party institutions in support of the SSC’s house cleaning efforts, particularly on the conduct of its officials handling investments of the pension fund,” the SSS said in a statement.
For its part, the SSC is also conducting a parallel investigation, with the evaluation by the committee of the responses submitted by the concerned four executives ongoing, said its chair Amado D. Valdez.
The four SSS officials implicated in the controversy were George S. Ongkeko Jr., Reginald G. Candelaria, Rizaldy T. Capulong and Ernesto D. Francisco Jr.
The said executives were accused by SSC Commissioner Jose Gabriel La Viña of “serious dishonesty and grave misconduct” for allegedly illegally profiting from their positions by trading stocks using the same stockbrokers that manage the SSS’ portfolio.
Valdez said the SSC “gave the respondents ample time to respond in compliance with due process.”
“Besides looking at the probable guilt of the respondents, the investigation will also lead to the fine-tuning of the SSS’ investment policies,” Valdez said.
“The SSC looks at Congress as its guide in making the SSS more beneficial to its more than 35 million members. Thus, the reform agenda for the 20-year old charter of the SSC, which is seen as the future of the SSS, is now at the hands of the lawmakers,” according to Valdez.
The proposed amendments to the SSS charter are pending in the Senate.
“The SSS eyes the charter amendment proposal as one of the long-term solutions that will make the pension fund viable and sustainable to further serve its current and future members and pensioners,” Valdez said.
“One of the major provisions of the proposal is rationalizing the powers, duties and accountabilities of the SSC. This would expand the SSC’s power to diversify the investments of the SSS to generate and boost earnings of the pension fund and to further improve the benefits being disbursed to its members,” he noted.—BEN O. DE VERA
