DEBUREAUCRATIZING GOVERNMENT OR A BIT OF HOUSECLEANING

The Social Security System or SSS has been on fire since the pension of the senior citizens was not increased. Their main reason was that they do not have enough funds to foot the big allocation for that item. However, the fighters for the senior citizens' right and plight say that the SSS has not been doing its job. It has committed a lot of faux pas in terms of investment (By the way, will the officers who botched those deals not be asked to defend themselves at all? Ganun ganun na lang ba yun? "Nagkamali e di sorry." Wow!)

Another reason is that the SSS has been poor at collecting from companies the contributions of workers which they have given. So those contributions have just been pocketed by the officers of the companies without guilt nor shame. 

How come we allow these things to happen at all?

Actually, businesses are supposed to report to the Bureau of Internal Revenue quarterly. Why don't we make the BIR include in the reporting their payments of SSS contributions? Then make the SSS check on the veracity of the reports? Is that too difficult to do for the SSS employees?

Or, the Department of Labor and Employment has regional directors. Why don't we ask them to check on businesses as well if they are paying to the government the workers' contributions and if they are remiss in their duties, then padlock their offices. 

I think really, there is too much "lagay" going on to the detriment of the health and welfare of our workers. I can cite many companies, which even make their workers go overtime without any additional payments. Another company also do not give them any day off at all during the week. Yet the workers endure the oppressive working conditions because at least theya re being paid regularly; hence, they could send money to their relatives in the province, no matter how meager their earnings are. 

So, what I am suggesting to force the issue of the higher SSS pension for our elderly citizens, the SSS must have joint undertaking with the BIR and the DOLE to trade secrets to find out which companies are not giving the workers their just due. 

This kind of triumvirate attack could make the guilty companies truly work along the legal ways and not sweep their profits under the rag all the time. Is this not a way of de-bureaucratizing the government?

Maybe we must also have a contest to ask the opinions of the people on how best to solve similar problems. Then any of the agencies can provide incentives to motivate the people to come up with creative solutions to the problems.