The Leaders Forum is a national bipartite committee composed of business organizations – Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and the Philippine Exporters Confederation (PHILEXPORT); and trade union federations – Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

The Leaders Forum meets quarterly and its technical working group meets monthly to discuss economic and social issues affecting the country.

In a letter dated 15 December 2020, it successfully requested the government to defer the increase of the health insurance contribution called “Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth)” for one year.

Such a request was driven by allegations of corruption in this public enterprise which reported missing funds.

The Leaders Forum said that “it finds the adjustment on PhilHealth contributions as inappropriate amid the alleged corruption in the state-owned health insurance corporation”. “Until these issues are cleared and addressed, we find no moral ground for the rate hike, collections from which may again be lost to the same corrupt practices”, the bipartite committee added.

“The group expressed its concern over businesses that are just re-starting under a more relaxed quarantine stage and that the higher premium contributions set for the year 2021 will be an added burden which business, in general, and the MSMEs, in particular, will find very difficult to cope and comply with”.

Moreover, the Leaders Forum expressed criticisms over social partners’ lack of representation in the PhilHealth Board stating that: “Tripartism, as institutionalized by the Labor Code of the Philippines, shall be the main engine for policy development and decision-making on labor-management relations issues at the national and regional levels. This representation covers tripartite government agencies such as the PhilHealth to ensure that policies and programs developed are truly reflective of the interests of their constituents”.

To support the companies and employees during the difficult times of the pandemic, the Leaders Forum is also calling the government to suspend the increase of 1% in the Social Security System (SSS) contribution. At present, the suspension for the increase of 1% premium contribution is pending approval from the Congress or the President.