SC asked to nullify requirement for land-based OFWs to shoulder full SSS contributions


By NICOLE-ANNE C. LAGRIMAS, GMA News
Lawmakers and an OFW rights and welfare group on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to stop and eventually nullify certain provisions of the Social Security Act that require land-based overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to solely shoulder their monthly Social Security System (SSS) contributions.
Migrante International and members of the House of Representatives’ Makabayan bloc asked the tribunal to issue a temporary restraining order halting the enforcement of several provisions of Republic Act No. 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018 and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
They challenged the provisions that places land-based and sea-based OFWs under compulsory coverage of the SSS and declares land-based OFWs as self-employed—this means they must pay the contribution by themselves without their employers’ share.
The provisions violated the equal protection clause in the Constitution, a requirement that all similarly situated persons or things should be treated alike. The petitioners argued that land-based OFWs are not similarly situated with local employees because of the nature of their employment.
The law does not require OFWs’ employers to share in the payment of contributions, arguing that there is “no reasonable justification” in categorizing land-based OFWs as self-employed when they have employers.
While the law classifies land-based OFWs as self-employed, it considers manning agencies as the employers of sea-based OFWs. The petitioners said there is no “substantial distinction” between land-based and sea-based OFWs.
They further argued that the Philippine government has no jurisdiction over foreign employers.
They assailed the provision in the IRR that requires new hires and returning workers to pay one month and three months’ contribution in advance, respectively, saying it deprives workers of the rights to work and to travel.
As it stands, RA 11199 mandates the government to negotiate agreements with OFWs’ host countries to ensure that employers pay the required SSS contributions, which would make land-based OFWs no longer self-employed in the eyes of the law.
But while the petitioners acknowledged this provision, they said this is an “ideal world scenario” and a “future contingency beyond the control of the land-based OFW.”
“If the government fails to ensure that foreign employers contribute to the workers’ SSS, then it should not place the burden of its failure on the land-based OFWs,” the petition stated.
The petitioners argued that the SSS acted beyond its power by issuing an Overseas Employment Certificate that requires the advance payment of contribution by departing OFWs.
“This is especially oppressive to simple and struggling OFWs who usually had to borrow money and be already buried in debt in order to pay for the many requirements for OFW employment even prior to commencing employment abroad,” the petition said. —VDS, GMA News

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