BAGUIO CITY – Three local employers are now the subject of a manhunt operation by law enforcers after they were issued separate warrants of arrest by different courts in the city for alleged violations of the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 11199 or the New Social Security Systems (SSS) law.
Judge Emmanuel Cacho Rasing of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 3 issued the warrant of arrest against Cesar Lapid for violation of the SSS law with a recommended bail bond of 24,000 for his temporary release; Judge Monalisa Tiongsan Tabora of RTC Branch 7 issued a separate warrant of arrest against Beatrice Ngolab for violation of Section 10, 24(a) and (d) of the SSS Law with a recommended bail of P20,000 for her temporary liberty while Judge Maria Ligaya Itliong-Rivera issued the warrant of arrest against Francis Paco II for violation of Section 10 and Section 24(d) of the SSS law with a recommended bail of P12,000 for his temporary liberty.
The warrants of arrest were served by the assigned police operatives to the aforesaid individuals but they could not be located in their specified addresses.
The violations of the traders that were issued warrants of arrest by the different courts rage from alleged non-remittance of SSS contributions of their employees, non-registration of their businesses with the SSS and non-production of records for the evaluation and assessment of the SSS.
Based on the provisions of RA 8282 as amended by RA 11199, erring employers stand to face the penalties of imprisonment of 6 years and 1 day to 12 years, payment of fine ranging from P5,000 to P20,000 and payment of unremitted contributions plus 2 percent penalty per month that the same had not been remitted.
SSS recently launched an aggressive campaign against delinquent employers to compel them to pay the contributions of their employees and their counterparts for the security benefits of their workers who had worked with them to ensure the successful operations of their businesses.
Atty. Blesselda Acosta head of the operations and legal department for SSS Luzon 1 warned all employers not to ignore the human rights of their employees.
“Under the universal declaration of human rights, everybody is entitled to social security.” Acosta added.
Atty. Acosta reveals that in their area of jurisdiction, 30 cases were already filed in the different courts, while 137 are due for filing. She explained that these individuals were given the longest time to comply but opted to ignore the demands of the agency.
The subject employers could not be reached for comment as of press time considering that they are out of the city at the time that their issued warrants of arrest were served to their specified addresses.
By HENT
