Outgoing Social Security System president Corazon de la Paz said she blocked intentions of some quarters to use SSS members’ funds for the government’s pro-poor agenda.

“What I was saying was that it’s not included in the [SSS] Charter. Using the funds has limits,” de la Paz told ABS-CBN’s “Umagang Kay Ganda” morning show.

She said that SSS funds cannot be used to finance pro-poor projects of the government “unless it is defined in the Charter.” The SSS is a government-controlled financial institution.

De la Paz, who oversees the private fund that administers the pensions of at least 800,000 members, said she had to “make a stand”.

She added that her decision may have been received negatively by some people.

The SSS chief had said on Wednesday that there was politics involved in her resignation, which will take effect on July 31.

“I said of course there will always be politics [in government], [especially] if you’re actions offended some people,” de la Paz said.

Asked to specify what she meant by politics, de la Paz cited the current economic crisis being experienced by poor Filipinos.

“There are problems in our country that needs to be [dealt] with funds,” de la Paz said, adding that she was asked if SSS funds can be used to address the problem.

De la Paz, however, clarified that politics is only one of the small reasons for her resignation. She said her spine’s condition has become a hindrance for her duties and responsibilities of an SSS president.

“An SSS president has many responsibilities. The agency needs a person who has no health problems,” she said.

De la Paz arrived Wednesday from a conference in Malaysia.

It was while in Malaysia that she heard reports that Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman Romulo Neri would be taking her place at the SSS.

De la Paz arrived on a wheelchair because she cannot walk far due to pain caused by her worsening scoliosis.

She said she tendered her resignation on June 18 citing health reasons.

“I’ve also had surgery in 2005. I guess it’s time for me to also start looking after my health,” de la Paz said.

AO 232

Meanwhile, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza had said he does not particularly know the reason why Neri was chosen to replace de la Paz.

“I don’t know the inside story but maybe it will be very, very significant to mention that together with the appointment of Neri was the issuance of Administrative Order 232 yesterday (Tuesday) that will cluster all the government’s pro-poor programs into a single national social welfare strategy,” Dureza said on Wednesday.

Under the AO, the President ordered the clustering of all existing social welfare-related programs under one body, which will be headed by the SSS chief.

The AO directs that the SSS president, as head of the national social welfare program, will have a Cabinet rank.

Mrs. Arroyo said that aside from the SSS, pro-poor programs of the Government Service Insurance System, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Health, will be placed under one umbrella organization.

The clustering, she said, was done to directly address the impact of high fuel and food prices on Filipinos.

Neri’s appointment discussed long time ago

Neri, also interviewed via telephone on the same ABS-CBN show Thursday, said he was informed of his appointment on Tuesday. However, he said his possible appointment to SSS had been discussed long before de la Paz’s actual resignation.

The outgoing CHED chairman said he would have preferred returning to the National Economic and Development Authority.

President Arroyo, however, “thought the welfare crisis is more important.”

Neri said his new task is to “harmonize” and put in close coordination the welfare agencies so that their benefits would really trickle down to the poor Filipinos.

De la Paz said she has not worked with Neri, but she is confident that the incoming SSS chief will be able to finish the reforms that she started to make the services of the agency more efficient.

Neri said he has the qualifications to head the SSS.

“The SSS has many financial functions. My major was finance in UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles),” he said.

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