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“I wish to emphasize, however, that booking and reporting the social benefit liabilities do not affect the institutions’ cash flow and funding situations,” Dominguez said. “The SSS, the GSIS and PhilHealth can still meet their shortand long-term obligations to their members. The Filipino people will still receive their pension or other benefits from these social institutions,” he further remarked.

The Department of Finance (DoF) head also said that the government now has an accurate view of the funding reality of these organizations, thanks to the audited 2020 financial reports of the SSS, GSIS and PhilHealth.

He added that the Finance department made various proposals to better the handling of these funds. One option is to pool the funds of the three organizations and form a sovereign wealth fund, which would allow the government to maximize investment returns. These funds may be managed by professional fund managers.

Dominguez also stated that the government must improve contribution collection in order to enhance fund efficiency. In a similar vein to the payroll tax in the United States, the Finance department is considering having one agency collect all payments rather than each organization doing it separately.

He said the Philippines, like most countries that impose a payroll tax, could have the Bureau of Internal Revenue collect for these institutions.